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Having heard Hilary Hahn interviewed, I respect her as an artist, and I will admit my familiarity with her recordings is quite limited. One reason for my lack of knowledge is that from recordings I've heard I find she plays too fast for my taste.
Two cases in point: I heard her play some Bach. Sorry, I can't remember the exact piece but it was one I have some familiarity with. Now I like a brisk tempo for Bach and Baroque in general. But I felt the breakneck speed of Miss Hahn's performance sacrificed depth. It almost sounded like speed for speed's sake.
The same goes for a sample I heard of the third movement of the Mendelssohn concerto in E. Again, I like this to move along, but she played it so fast that it almost sounded like some notes were missing. Consequently, I decided against getting the recording.
My purpose is not to denigrate Hilary Hahn as an artist. I just wanted other people's impressions on this one aspect. Is she known for her speed?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Follow Ups:
Obviously many here are more familiar than I am with Miss Hahn and violin works in general. I learned much.
In fairness, on YouTube I saw a performance of her version of the third movement of the Mendelssohn concerto with another orchestra. This time the tempo was bright but more moderate, although there were still a few spots where the notes seemed ready to run away.
Again, I respect Miss Hahn. She seems open and sincere. It was never my intent to question her artistic worth.
Thanks, all, for the thoughtful posts.
She's not too fast but she might be too cold.Loudspeakers known as "fast" sounding give me the same feeling that Hilary Hahn does. Fast speakers hesitate just a bit less in the attacks and the sustains in the microdynamic domain. In the same manner, Hahn's fiddling technique produces a fast and clean sound owing to the character of the micro transitions during her bow movements. And possibly, bowel movements too. I think that Heifetz probably had slightly better control of the bow than Hahn does, retaining or perhaps *producing* just a bit more tonal "warmth" during harried bow movements.
Edits: 10/13/14 10/13/14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xZl1_NXKls
She realizes her violin playing isn't winning over enough listeners, so she's trying to get a back-up career going in comedy!
Edits: 10/13/14
She really does think you are a fish.
Share the respect for Hahn - intelligent and non-sell-out, non-derivative player. She plays her own style. Her tone is on the sharper side and needs to be properly recorded to work. But an interesting and individual player. Not worried about her tempi from what I've heard.Kind of a violin version of Pollini.
Edits: 10/13/14
to Ms Hahn, I don't care for what I've heard of her output. I owned a few recordings early on, but not the Bach, and wrote her off. I have not been impressed with her interpretations, which sometimes seem technically astute but shallow or superficial. I don't know if they're too fast, but if she plays as fast as Heifetz, IMO that's not an endorsement. I also don't care for her tone, which seems thin and can sometimes approach wiry.
Even when I saw her play a Paganini concerto almost ten years ago, I was left completely cold. Notes poured forth, but it all seemed too calculated and almost robotic, and she was rewarded with a lukewarm response from the audience. Unlike Salerno-Sonnenberg, whose Tchaikovsky had me bouncing in my seat and was interrupted by thunderous applause after the first movement.
Her recent project of 27 pieces of newer short works is impressive from a conceptual point of view, and I'm sure it is executed very well, although I do not care for some of the music. She knows one thousand times more about music than I ever will, and I respect her a great deal. However, for the most part, I'd rather hear her speak than play.
Peace,
Tom E
Too many years ago, I was auditioning some speakers at a store in Atlanta, and one of the discs I brought along was Hahn's Barber Violin Concerto. The speakers were hooked to equipment right in the middle of the store, and when I put the Hahn on, the store owner stopped what he was doing and came over to listen and find out what that wonderful recording was. This, along with the Stravinsky, is my favorite Hahn recording. It is also clearly my favorite Barber performance. Ms. Hahn is on fire in the Barber: passion, clarity, technique.
The Barber violin concerto is very much underrated I have a version
with the St Louis Orchestra on EMI which is excellent but I would not mind another one so I've ordered HH, I'll report back.
Hahn's Barber is IMO great, but the Meyer is revelatory.
Happy listening,
Jim
"The passage of my life is measured out in shirts."
- Brian Eno
Had the CD since it was first issued. Only better performance of the Barber might be Gluzman, but I would have never discovered it nor appreciated it had it not been for the Hahn performance,
I must say I don't have too many of HH's performances left in my collection. I agree with you about the Bach Concertos (I assume that's the recording you meant?) - they sound hasty to me too. And yet, J-Fi takes a similarly rapid approach (with regard to tempo) in her Decca recording of the Bach Concertos with the ASMF IIRC, somehow producing an impression of a bit more relaxation and nuance. At least HH and J-Fi are both holding firm against HIP influences - something which Lisa has, unfortunately, fallen major prey to in her latest Bach recording (which is all the more tragic in that this recording contains a relatively out of the way Concerto by CPE Bach - good for a change of pace!). The new HIP influences in Lisa's playing are truly dreadful. But. . . I digress. . .
In the Mendelssohn, I don't remember HH's last movement being THAT fast - I may have to check again on Spotify. In any case, didn't Heifetz play it fast too? Why pick on Hilary? I've also heard (and owned) HH's Brahms/Stravinsky and Sibelius/Schoenberg concerto albums. I remember them as being fine, and one reason I jettisoned them is because I didn't find the recording quality all that great - even the Brahms/Stravinsky SACD. Hilary seemed to be playing just fine, but just how compelling her playing seems will depend on the reactions of each individual listener. For some reason, I'm a bit less compelled by her playing than by that of other violinists - that's not a bad reflection on her playing per se however.
Chris, here's one case where I would be very surprised if you disagreed with me. Listen to Hilary Hahn's Mendelssohn concerto again and see if you can honestly say it isn't too fast.
Heifetz had a unique ability to play many things too fast and yet make them work anyway, but to me even he sounds increasingly anachronistic as the decades pass. And Hilary Hahn can't do what he did, despite her superhumanly speedy digits. Nor can anyone else around today whom I've heard.
Hilary and Heifetz are within one second of each other in the last movement of the Mendelssohn. And I do agree she sounds more pressed on the tempo than I remembered. In addition, a couple of her entrances are fractionally early (gotta shave off those precious quarter-seconds from the total time!) So. . . bottom line: she's a bit less satisfying than I remembered. The Heifetz recording suffers from the soloist's being too close the microphone and swamping the orchestra - a not-uncommon occurrence with Heifetz recordings, even most of the Living Stereos.
So. . . yes. . . HH sounds too fast and over-eager, while Heifetz sounds dry and unrealistic. Neither one is very compelling for me.
I just checked a few seconds of Pouty-Lips' (Alina Ibragimova's) recording of the Mendelssohn too - she's just a fraction slower on her main tempo, but she's able to be way more expressive and the whole performance sounds more settled - too bad about her HIP orchestra (OAE) collaboration though!
I've read that Heifetz did not necessarily have those shortcomings live in the concert hall that you rightly identify in his records. That's not surprising. His RCA records of the 50s and early 60s were excellent for their time but show the limitations of the technology then available.
Recording limitations aside, he had a unique, highly distinctive style that he perfected to an amazingly high degree. But imo, that sort of star inevitably fades to the margins as a figure of the distant past. In the end, there is much more to the Beethoven and Mendelssohn concertos than their Heifetz interpretations. And many more performances by many more great violinists.
On her Bach concertos forewords Hillary says
It is my hope that while listening to this cd, you in turn will be inspired to hum to the slow movements, tap your feet to the last
and dance to it all.
Well she achieved it for sure, I love it, and such an interpretation is personal and if you prefer it another way so be it, but that was her vision of how it should be played and I respect that.
Hahn is scheduled to make her first appearance after her recuperation from a recent injury playing both Bach concerti in Cleveland in about two weeks. I'll report back...
Yes, please report your thoughts/impressions.
Hahn was supposed to play the two Bach violin concertos in Cleveland this week, coming back from her injury. CANCELLED, replaced by a Bach cantata.She posted this on Facebook yesterday:
Dear Facebook friends,As you may know, I’m recovering from a muscle strain. I have made solid, steady progress, and fully expected to be healed in time for my engagement with The Cleveland Orchestra. Unfortunately, my doctor has said that performing next week would be detrimental to my long-term recovery. With sadness, I must withdraw from these concerts.
I was looking forward to playing Bach for the wonderful Cleveland audience and with the outstanding musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra. I have been connected to Ohio my entire life: my grandparents lived in Springfield, and I spent four summers at the Encore School for Strings in Hudson. I first worked with The Cleveland Orchestra in the summer of 1994 at Blossom. I’m eager to return to Cleveland, hopefully some time in the near future!
Thanks, as always, for being my fans -
Hilary
Edits: 10/19/14
Was listening to Elgar VC and Vaughn Williams Lark Ascending this week, in my commute time.
First, Hahn doesn't play fast at all.
Second, based on watching YT's and the CD above, she has some lack of depth in her interpretation. That's the specific recordings. I was disappointed with her Lark.
If it means anything, our teen and her orchestra friends generally dislike Ms Hahn.
I agree completely, and in particular with respect to the two examples you give. I think Hilary Hahn is very good in a lot of 20th and 21st century repertoire, but often too fast and charmless in older standard repertoire.
The Mendelssohn concerto should not just be about lightening fast virtuosity, it should also have wit and charm. And much of Bach's music is rooted in dance forms, not that it must be played slowly enough to actually dance to, but it shouldn't be sped up beyond recognition either.
No matter, there are so many recordings of standard 18th and 19th century violin repertoire out there you have a good shot at finding some that suit you better.
Just my two pfennings.
Love HH, she is known for accuracy of content. Never noticed her playing described as fast?
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