Ossian Posted October 16, 2001 Report Posted October 16, 2001 and she played exquisite and often glorious music last night at Benoray Hall in Seattle. Hilary Hahn is her name. It was one of the best listening-to-music experiences of my life, and I've had a number of them.
ricecereal Posted October 16, 2001 Report Posted October 16, 2001 How do you purchase your tickets? Thanks for the info.
MicaelaB Posted October 17, 2001 Report Posted October 17, 2001 I'm very lucky to live near Skaneateles, NY, where Hilary Hahn has come every summer since she was around 12. I see her once or twice every year. She's incredible. What did you hear her play?
bethr Posted October 17, 2001 Report Posted October 17, 2001 She played Brahms Sonata No2 in A major for violin and Piano Bach Sonata No. 1 in G minor - Solo violin Mozart Sonata in F Major for violin and piano Saint-Saens Sonata No. 1 in D minor for violin and piano. She played two encores: 1. I can't remember 2. The Russian Maiden Song - Stravinsky
fatcat Posted October 19, 2001 Report Posted October 19, 2001 Woo-hoo. I'm gonna hear that same program at Lincoln Center on Oct. 28th!
shantinik Posted October 19, 2001 Report Posted October 19, 2001 I was there, too, with whole family (we really saved up our pennies!) The missing piece was the Bach Siciliano. An absolutely extraordinary event! The Brahms was first on the program (which I thought odd), and it took one's breath away. She really can command an audience, and her bow arm -- well, words can't describe. Then, the Bach -- a signature piece for her. As far as I was concerned, they could have ended the concert then, and I would have been satisfied. The two encores were interesting -- neither of them showpieces -- just extreme musicality. I haven't seen that many violinists in recital (maybe a dozen or so?) This is the first one that I would have begged for a chance to buy the recording, unedited, on the way out. It was THAT GOOD!
lwl Posted October 19, 2001 Report Posted October 19, 2001 I heard her three-Brahms-sonatas recital last year. Reading her online journal later, I discovered that evening was her first time playing those works in public with Garrick Olssohn, and apparently she thought there were still some kinks to work out -- not like anyone could tell! I, too, would cheerfully have snagged the recording on the way out! I've heard other excellent recitals (one of them in the last year, Vengerov), but I don't think I could say the same for them. (Fortunately, I've heard that Hahn's studio recording of the Brahms sonatas will indeed be released.) Truly an extraordinary player. Would love to hear this next set of recital works, but she's not coming to this area this year, as far as I know.
SteveLaBonne Posted October 19, 2001 Report Posted October 19, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Stephen: And I do wish she'd come to Boston. And I that she would come to Cleveland!
Cedar Posted October 19, 2001 Report Posted October 19, 2001 I knew I should have gone, but finances, family and fate intervened. Hopefully she'll be back next year.
cremona Posted October 20, 2001 Report Posted October 20, 2001 I don't know what it is about her. No matter how well I know a piece or how many different recordings I've heard of it, whenever I hear Hilary Hahn play something, I just say to myself, "Oh. That's the way it's supposed to be played." Also, her intonation is ABSOLUTELY, 100%, DEAD ON at all times...it is incredible.
HuangKaiVun Posted October 20, 2001 Report Posted October 20, 2001 I have trouble with her constant forcing, her use of vibrato, and elliptical bowing. Wonderful modern violinist, though.
fatcat Posted October 20, 2001 Report Posted October 20, 2001 I don't hear any forcing, love her sound, including vibrato, and if what she does is what is called elliptical bowing then someone please show me how it's done. But you're right - she IS a wonderful modern violinist.
lwl Posted October 20, 2001 Report Posted October 20, 2001 I don't hear any forcing in her sound at all -- either in the concert hall or on record. She seems to have a tone that she can alter for the venue, as well -- I've heard her both in an intimate recital hall, and in a good-sized concert hall where the orchestra (including the soloists in the concerto grosso that opened the work) sounded rather distant, but Hahn was clear and immediate, even above the gigantic orchestral forces of the Elgar concerto. She does have a huge tone, though, but it is one of great beauty and purity. Hahn is one of the few modern players without training from DeLay or another Galamian disciple. Her initial training was from a Russian teacher, and then she was taught by Brodsky, Ysaye's last pupil. I would classify her tone production as pure Franco-Belgian. The Ysaye heritage is quite clear, in my opinion. Hahn does not play as close to the bridge as most of the other modern soloists (or as Kang or Josefowicz, also former Brodsky students, though a significant amount of their training came from others). She also has the single smoothest legato that I have ever heard out of a player -- if your eyes were closed (or you hear her on record), you cannot tell that for many long notes, she simply changes bow mid-note, so smoothly that it is literally inaudible. Therefore, she is able to get power simply by using a ton of bow -- taking two or three bows where another player would take one. Even Milstein or Ysaye himself, who both have a liquid legato, can't do this. Definitely no elliptical bowing for Hahn -- it's not her sound production technique at all. Interpretively, of course, she's a modern player, and she's fairly generous in her use of vibrato, but she's not one of those with the on/off vibrato habits (at least not so much that it's bothersome; Oistrakh does that somewhat too, after all, and it doesn't bug me). She's actually relatively cool -- more of a classicist, in the mold of Grumiaux and of Milstein. A fine player, modern or not -- and she's still young. Personally, I would love to know how the heck, technically, that extraordinary legato is produced. Clearly it can be taught (Kang and Josefowicz both have it to a certain extent, where it is noticeable and good but not jawdropping).
shantinik Posted October 22, 2001 Report Posted October 22, 2001 quote: Originally posted by HuangKaiVun: I have trouble with her constant forcing, her use of vibrato, and elliptical bowing. Wonderful modern violinist, though. Have we been listening/watching the same player? Hahn is about the least "forcing" violinist I've ever seen. She is almost never right up against the bridge, the changes in volume/tone are smooth as silk, and the legato -- the bow arm -- is what sets her apart from Shaham, Vengerov, Midori (all of whom I love as well.) She is also a "cooler" player than these others -- she is more like Grumiaux (whom she very much admires) than like anyone else, in my judgment. Frankly, though, she's a better player NOW than Grumiaux in his prime. Wait 20 years....
SteveLaBonne Posted October 22, 2001 Report Posted October 22, 2001 I have to agree 100% with what lwl and Shantinik said. I was also glad to see lwl mention Kang, to my mind a truly fine and bizarrely underrated violinist.
bethr Posted October 22, 2001 Report Posted October 22, 2001 quote: Originally posted by HuangKaiVun: I have trouble with her constant forcing, her use of vibrato, and elliptical bowing. Wonderful modern violinist, though. What, may I ask, is elliptical bowing?
lwl Posted October 23, 2001 Report Posted October 23, 2001 quote: Originally posted by bethr: What, may I ask, is elliptical bowing? Galamian taught his students a figure-8 pattern of the bow that practically all of them discarded later in life, as the actual motion is overly elaborate and not especially practical, and the tonal results aren't great, either. A more subtle version of that exists in most of today's modern players, though, who have a Galamian heritage of some sort; it's a tendency to allow the tone to taper at the ends of the bow as a result of the attempt to get a smooth change, resulting in a sound which swells in the middle. Some modern teachers with a Galamian influence also teach a 'bite' at the beginning of the stroke, which doesn't help that sound, either.
PoorDad Posted October 24, 2001 Report Posted October 24, 2001 This has nothing to do with her playing, but says a lot of her character. When she was here in Dallas a few weeks ago, she played just before the intermission. After her encore, she spoke up and invited the audience (packed house) to come out to the front "so I can meet you". During the intermisson, she was at a table in the lobby signing autographs. The line was the longest I've ever seen at the Myerson. As they were flashing the lights for the 2nd half, her "helpers" announced that she was going to wait through the playing of Mahler's 1st, and finish autographs at the end of the performance - which she did. Very classy.
zinomaniac Posted October 24, 2001 Report Posted October 24, 2001 She keeps a journal at http://www.hilaryhahn.com/ which is fun to read from time to time.
K545 Posted October 24, 2001 Report Posted October 24, 2001 quote: Originally posted by lwl: Galamian taught his students a figure-8 pattern of the bow that practically all of them discarded later in life, as the actual motion is overly elaborate and not especially practical, and the tonal results aren't great, either. B] I'm quite sure that the figure-8 bowing technique pre-dates Galamian. I agree that as a way of life it is not very useful. But for players like me, who switch frequently from fiddle to a very large viola and then back to the fiddle again, 5 minutes or so of conscious figure-8 bowing seems to speed up the adaptive process. The problems in switching, by the way, are all right hand problems. The left hand takes care of itself if you pay attention to the width of semitones.
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