Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein, David Zinman, Hilary Hahn, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - Hilary Hahn ~ Beethoven - Violin Concerto A· Bernstein - Serenade

Hahn is almost leading Zinman

Beethoven of Hahn and Zinman: I think the violin concerto by them is to be able to say the following, compared with the concerto of Beethoven played by Mutter with Karajan to whom the age parts in the grandchild and the grandfather when Mutter was in her teens, Mutter's performance was only performed and existed on Karajan's palm, though the performance was made of the best use of the technique and was beautiful and was powerfully unrestricted done. However, Hahn is different. After the solo of Hahn enters after the exposition by the orchestra of the first movement, the performance Zinman plays moderate, the music comes tightened. Hahn is almost leading Zinman.

After I bought this CD, I could not understand the good points of Hahn's Beethoven for a long time. I heard it not tasty and not lovely. I thought taht it were a failure work of self-confidence of a girl stretching herself. It was thought, "She could have ride on the conductor as much as Mutter have done, who had played with Karajan in her teens". However, I who had intensively listened to the symphonies of Beethoven and addicted by Beethoven recently, was given immunity to Hahn's Beethoven. So I came to think, "There are no petty tricks in Hahn's Beethoven. It is only in one line that it is". It is overwhelmed to Hahn's performance of the third movement of the concerto. September 21, 2008

Bring Ms. Hahn forward a little bit

Testimonials to Ms. Hahn's proficiency with the violin are by now common. I can resent only the tepid ones. Though sometimes given to overstatement, I am not sure how to overstate the perfection of her technique or the lyricism of her "laser beam" delivery (credit Nicholas Cage for that metaphor). She has the (thus far) unerring ability to transform seemingly unremarkable compositions into transcendental experiences.

I have compared her recordings of various works to those of Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein (as here), Henryk Szeryng and others, and, summarily, she makes the entire lot of 20th century violinists (except Pearlman) sound like a pack of struggling school boys at war with their instruments. She is a phenomenon; she is without equal. She is the greatest violinist in living memory, and we are priveleged to live in her era.

There you go. I was scarcely able to overstate it. Purchase anything she produces without fear of regret. There is nothing better out there (except Pearlman's Mendelssohn concerto with Barenboim - the recording mix is better). January 1, 2008

Truly, one of the finest and most distinctive

All my life I've collected recordings of the Beethoven Concerto for violin and orchestra. I know of no greater, more eloquent, melodic and memorable piece of music for the violin. This recording swept me off my feet. The pacing is hynotic, the tone is gorgeous, the performance very simply outstanding. It's exquisite what happens here. Now my favorite, hands down. October 1, 2007

Smashing a Stradivarius

Extolling the virtues of Hillary Hahn--the artist, is an eye-rolling redundancy. Anyone who knows anything about this genre realizes Hahn's extraordinary, bone chilling, once-in-a-generation virtuosity. That this particular recording does not receive five stars is certainly no fault of Ms. Hahn's. Like squirting black ink on the Mona Lisa, or more fittingly--like smashing a Stradivarius against a brick wall, the criminally-incompetent audio engineer for this recording had destroyed any possibility that this CD would ever become an all-time chef-d'oeuvre. To be subtle--like a broken leg, this compact disc should be packaged complete with an eight channel digital audio mixer to permit at least a partial fix of the careless clumsy effort wrought by the audio engineer [sic!]. In fact, one wonders if the so-called audio engineer's ability to hear was similar to that of Ludwig Van Beethoven himself. March 29, 2007

An amazing talent

Ms. Hahn plays the Beethoven beautifully, but I would hardly have expected any less. If you like the violin then you owe it to yourself to get all of her CDs. February 10, 2007

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