Friday January 26, 2007 SGN.org |
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Volume 35 Issue 04 |
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Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
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Hilary Hahn Dazzles a capacity Benaroya crowd |
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| Hilary Hahn Dazzles a capacity Benaroya crowd | ||
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by Rod Parke -
SGN A&E Writer To someone accustomed to big voices coming, with rare exception, from big-bodied sopranos, slender Hilary Hahn's first notes in last week's recital came as a full-force shock. Her violin sound is not only big; it is astoundingly beautiful. At the same time juicy and sparkling, it also has the intensity of Maxim Vengerov's violin. She, like Vengerov, set the walls of Benaroya Hall vibrating, filling the room with the force of the huge Watjen Organ. All this from a 27-year old woman who still looks like a shy little girl. But there's nothing shy about Hahn's communicating skills. (Check out her webpage at www.hilaryhahn.com for her unmannered, intelligent, and forceful writing. She'll tell you how to exercise, avoid boredom, and generally have fun. Her journal writings also give one an inside view of what her life as a traveling musician is like.) Unlike most classical musicians, who often announce encores in an unintelligible manner, Ms. Hahn waits for the audience to be silent and then speaks with just the right speed and volume so that no one could mistake what she says. Neither could anyone mistake her intentions when she played. Every phrase was pointed and articulate. From the loudest passages to the softest, her sound never lost focus. And it was simply the most beautiful violin sound I have ever heard in 50 years of concert going. Beauty and technical perfection could nevertheless become boring. Not so with this artist's eclectic program. She began with Leos Janacek's 'Sonata for Violin and Piano, JW7,' a piece no artist would choose if she wanted to just make pretty sounds. Except for the lyrical second movement, this was a disturbing piece, reflecting Janacek's reactions to WWI. Ms. Hahn followed it with the brilliant Mozart 'Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 22 in A major, K. 205.' It flowed from her instrument with ease and energy, each line etched with the clarity of clear spring morning. Even with the beauty of her basic sound, I was unprepared for the effect when Hahn combined that beauty with the lyric genius of an Italian composer. Giuseppe Tartini's "The Devil's Trill" Sonata is a bravura piece that was more popular in the days of my youth, but I have never heard it "bloom" with such sonic ecstasy as in this performance. The songful grace and full-throated warmth of each melodic line was simply irresistible. It brought the capacity audience to its feet. The 2003 Vengerov recital I referred to earlier consisted of all six of the unaccompanied violin sonatas of Eugene Ysaye. Here Hilary Hahn chose to play the 'Sonata for Violin Solo No. 2.' Beginning with a direct quote from Bach's E-major partita, Ysaye matches Bach's brilliant writing for strings, adding modern complexities and intensity. Hahn dispatched these with mastery and conviction. She made me want to re-visit Ysaye, wondering, as I did at Vergerov's recital, why these works are so relatively obscure. Hahn's gifted accompanist, Valentina Lisitsa, returned to the stage for their performance of Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata. Together they reveled in the contrasts and dramatics of this virtuoso work, giving it all the richness it warrants. Lisitsa showed power and brilliance in her solo moments but never overpowered Hahn's ample sound. It was a rousing finish to a most interesting and rewarding program, which she followed with two encores: Paganini's "Cantabile" and Dinicu's once very popular "Hora Stacatto." Reviewer Rod Parke can be reached at rmp62@columbia.edu. |
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