What to do when you meet Hilary Hahn ?
Answer ; smile and take a photo !
We also talked Violin: I asked an incomprehensible question about posture, to
which she answered most professionally. She even gave me tips about bowing
distribution in the Sibelius Concerto 3rd Movement.
Left ; Meeting Hilary Hahn after a Concert in Malmo, Sweden, March 2007. Hilary Hahn played the Sibelius and gave a Solo Bach Andante in A minor as an encore ; her tone is superb, her playing sophisticated, exciting, compelling in every way. Hilary Hahn is an extraordinary Violinist ; I find it impossible want to look for any fault in any aspect of her playing... such a perfect fusion of technique and musicianship, I would hardly believe it humanly possible to play so divinely! At the core of her technique is an amazing sustain of beautiful high class violin tone ; a silky smooth, silvery sound both sweet and powerful at the same time ; also evident is a marriage of bowing mastery and impeccable left had performance and vibrato... every note she plays thrills and captures the imagination. I am quite sure that the basis of her schooling and tone production are based on the St Petersburg School of cantabile playing. (After all a teacher in her youth had taught in St Petersburg and did give her plenty of Wohlfahrt to play !) I thoroughly recommend attending one of her Concerts, especially a Concerto with Orchestra. Also purchase one of her many recordings.. or her Portrait DVD. Her playing is mesmerizing ! Hilary Hahn's recording of the Elgar concerto is so fine it made me love that music again ! (I've heard some criticism of this recording... but let me assure you the critics know nothing... much less how to play a single note on a violin (that's why they are critics and not violinists) It is a beautiful rendition that outshines all other recordings!). The other Elgar I used to listen to was Menuhin's when he was 16 years old recorded with the Composer conducting.
Hilary Hahn plays a Vuillaume Violin. Either she or it (or both) have a big tone and stand out when playing a Concerto. That has more than something to do with her playing and bowing technique as well ! Her latest CD of Paganini and Spohr is so good that .... well you get the idea. Only Leonid Kogan's recording of Paganini's First Violin concerto can equal or surpass it for purity and vitality. I think Hilary Hahn must be the best Violinist who ever lived. I wonder if technical and musical knowledge is cumulative if the future will bring about even better Violinists ? If so, there won't be many ! Needless to say I am a fan of Hilary Hahn. I have all her recordings, and signed posters of her etc. For me it's hard to like other people's violin playing.... but when I do, it feels good to like somebody else's playing. I also like Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jansen, and more recently heard a fabulous Solo Bach recording by Lisa Batiashvili. My favourite violinists of the past were Fritz Kreisler, and then David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein and Arthur Grumiaux.
My wish is that a top Violinist would record the Concerti and etudes of the French Violin school. Viotti, Dancla, Kreutzer, Rode, DeBériot, Spohr etc. Ricci has recorded the Rode Caprices I feel with limited success, and Mischa Keylin has recorded the Vieuxtemps Concerti for Naxos with total success. Mark Kaplan has done 3 Viotti Concerti, and now Hilary Hahn has done a Spohr Concerto. That's about it. The Mendelssohn has been recorded several hundred times over, and so have the Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky... don't get me wrong, these are beautiful Concerti, but if Hilary Hahn recorded the 3 Mazas study books, they would be an instant sell out!