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This was written especially for the talented Hilary Hahn. It is coupled with the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and certainty offers a contrast!! Maybe it has been discussed here before, if so, I missed it .
Here is what the composer says about her composition:
PROGRAM NOTES: “Violin Concerto”
I believe that one of the most rewarding aspects of life is exploring and discovering the magic and mysteries held within our universe. For a composer this thrill often takes place in the writing of a concerto…it is the exploration of an instrument’s world, a journey of the imagination, confronting and stretching an instrument’s limits, and discovering a particular performer’s gifts.
The first movement of this concerto, written for the violinist, Hilary Hahn, carries a somewhat enigmatic title of “1726”. This number represents an important aspect of such a journey of discovery, for both the composer and the soloist. 1726 happens to be the street address of The Curtis Institute of Music, where I first met Hilary as a student in my 20th Century Music Class. An exceptional student, Hilary devoured the information in the class and was always open to exploring and discovering new musical languages and styles. As Curtis was also a primary training ground for me as a young composer, it seemed an appropriate tribute. To tie into this title, I make extensive use the intervals of unisons, 7ths, and 2nds, throughout this movement.
The excitement of the first movement’s intensity certainly deserves the calm and pensive relaxation of the 2nd movement. This title, “Chaconni”, comes from the word “chaconne”. A chaconne is a chord progression that repeats throughout a section of music. In this particular case, there are several chaconnes, which create the stage for a dialog between the soloist and various members of the orchestra. The beauty of the violin’s tone and the artist’s gifts are on display here.
The third movement, “Fly Forward”, seemed like such a compelling image, that I could not resist the idea of having the soloist do exactly that. Concerti throughout history have always allowed the soloist to delight the audience with feats of great virtuosity, and when a composer is confronted with a real gift in the soloist’s ability to do so, well, it would be foolhardy not to allow that dream to become a reality.
Bottom line is I like it very much. Maybe not yet among the 100 or so desert island nominations, but refreshingly different and imaginative. And credit for that must go to the talented and lovely Hilary Hahn whose picture adorns the cover as shown above.
Give it a listen and see what you think.
John (Going through a spurt of music exploration)
Enjoying 12,000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & M2TECH Vaughan DAC -> HeadRoom BlockHead headphone amplifier fed from a Meridian (Sooloos) server system.
The main 7.1 MC electrostatic speaker system is for A/V at night.
Follow Ups:
soul" so to speak, like the other dead white guys.
And rightfully so IMHO - this music has an instant appeal about it, despite its modernity and formidable technical demands. And didn't I read somewhere that Ligeti was an audiophile? That would make him one of us!
is perhaps my favorite living violinist. I've been a fan since I first heard her in 1998. I have everything I can find with her playing. She does everything well. Of recent interest is her recording of 27 encores which she commissioned from 27 modern composers, including Jennifer Higdon.
Edits: 02/23/15
One of my favorites, above. I'm a bit of a Samuel Barber, Curtis grad that he is, fan anyway but I think she hits his violin concerto out of the park.
The Edgar Meyer piece is a treat.
Have heard her play live quite a few times, even a VERY brief hello after a concert with the Utah Symphony a few years ago. She has quite the following as Abravanel Hall was wall to wall young girls, all there to hear her play the Sibelius. Few stayed after the autograph signing at intermission.
I'm sure I've said it before here, but this is my favorite Barber by far.
I'll follow that up.
Enjoying 12,000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & M2TECH Vaughan DAC -> HeadRoom BlockHead headphone amplifier fed from a Meridian (Sooloos) server system.
The main 7.1 MC electrostatic speaker system is for A/V at night.
I feel the Tchaikovsky recording has the violin a bit too recessed and some of the tempi in the first movement are faster than I comfortable with. Movement 2 is more lyrical & movement 3 is quite :vivacissimo", but not excessively so although there are unsettling changes of tempi.
But then that is just my opinion and I see she is not adored by all music lovers, probably attracting more fans with the more modern works. There we go again - venturing opinion in a very subjective area where there is no right or wrong, only personal likes and dislikes!
John
Enjoying 12,000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & M2TECH Vaughan DAC -> HeadRoom BlockHead headphone amplifier fed from a Meridian (Sooloos) server system.
The main 7.1 MC electrostatic speaker system is for A/V at night.
This is one of those pieces about which I have a clear idea in my mind of performance perfection, but I've never yet heard it, or if I did, I must have a vestigial recollection from a very tender age
Jeremy
After posting the above I found a comment that Hilary's score was different to that usually used. I have not been able to find that again but I've appended some comments on her interpretation of Tchaikovsky - and they differ just as our reactions to music does.
And, BTW, Ben Newman below loved her performance of the Higdon Violin Concerto so he is not anti Hilary!
Ben Newman (https://longtimetraveller.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/album-review-hilary-hahn-tchaikovsky-and-higdon-violin-concertos/)
I hate to say it, but it lacks the pop and flashiness that is so inherent to these pieces that makes them possibly the two greatest concertos ever written. Normally her intense control of every note serves her well in her recordings but here they are detrimental. The pieces say, “Go for it!” and Hilary Hahn takes that risk factor and throws it out the window with her control and as a result the recordings are boring. Clean and practically perfect yes, but that’s not what these concertos demand. They demand unrequited passion that knows no limits and almost causes the violinist to breakdown emotionally at every moment of the piece. Here is the amazing Janine Jansen during rehearsal for her recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto with Daniel Harding.
That’s the intensity of these pieces that Hilary misses and I hate to say it, but it’s blatantly obvious in her new recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto. It’s flat. It doesn’t move you and as a result, the orchestra sounds flat and uninspired as well. What might be one of the most exciting pieces ever written becomes just another classical piece that you can listen to and not remember. The reason the Tchaikovsky concerto is so celebrated is because its melodies jump out at you as you walk out of the concert hall filled with a life spring of energy and an incredible sense of excitement and victory! That’s the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. I highly recommend the recordings of Gil Shaham and Janine Jansen for passion and integrity, but my highest recommendation has to go to the incredible Jascha Heifetz! Where other violinists play the first movement of this piece in 18,19, and 20 minutes, Heifetz plays it in under 16!!! The speed is incredible and at the end you are simply blown away by the feat of violin acrobatics this man has just pulled off faster than any other violinist and with such musicality to boot!
Hilary Hahn even said in an interview that I watched that she hadn’t played the Tchaikovsky concerto in almost 14 years and she had to relearn it now that she is I believe 26 or 27. Well personally I think it probably would have been really good for her to play through this emotional piece as an angsty teenager because then she might have some shred of emotion or passion come through in the recording. And this is not to say that Hilary Hahn is a mindless robot as some have called her interpretations.
Howard Goldstein:
Tchaikovsky’s Concerto is mostly about the violin itself, its capacity for swooning lyricism and uninhibited virtuosity exploited to the hilt. Hahn, however, seems intent on proving otherwise, with a rather self-consciously Classical approach built on steady tempos and little rubato (most conspicuously in the first movement), portamentos so discreet as to be almost inaudible, and a narrow palette of tone colour.
No longer music that ‘stinks to the ear’ (Hanslick’s infamous phrase), but somewhat denuded of earthiness and energy in the process. Among Hahn’s contemporaries, Vadim Gluzman combines an equally pure tone with a warmer, more robust approach.
In both works Vasily Petrenko and the RLPO stick to Hahn like glue, a fact brilliantly revealed by the close, detailed, recording.
THE GRAMOPHONE:
Hilary Hahn’s Tchaikovsky is no warhorse. Her tone remains unforced even in the most strenuous passages, and in the finale, instead of the typical virtuoso’s urge to press forward, she stays poised, the movement’s vivacity expressed through rhythmic balance and precision. Does the music lose anything from this approach? We hear nothing that approaches Mischa Elman’s wonderful lyrical extravagance, it’s true, but Hahn’s more subtle way with Tchaikovsky’s melodies gives them a different kind of life, more integrated into the flow of the music, making the listener aware that, beneath its brilliant exterior, the Concerto has a deep, meditative aspect. Petrenko and the RLPO give magnificent support, with distinguished solo woodwind contributions and spirited tuttis – the lead-up to the first-movement cadenza is as exciting as you’re likely to hear. Only two things failed to convince – Hahn’s C major transformation of the main theme in the middle of the first movement doesn’t really sound lively or playful enough, and earlier (5'44") I can’t understand why the triplet passagework should suddenly slow down.
Enjoying 12,000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & M2TECH Vaughan DAC -> HeadRoom BlockHead headphone amplifier fed from a Meridian (Sooloos) server system.
The main 7.1 MC electrostatic speaker system is for A/V at night.
I think Perlman's performance of the first movement is pretty good but the rest less so. Especially in the last movement he seems to miss the excitement. I used to think speed was the essence of great playing of that movement, but I now believe there's more needed -- a kind of reckless abandonment, or at least the purposefully created semblance of that. As for the slow movement, probably I am the only person who could satisfy me re that, but I can't play the violin.
Jeremy
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