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In Reply to: RE: Hilary Hahn posted by psgary on October 11, 2014 at 19:07:43
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.
Follow Ups:
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.
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