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Music : Elgar - Violin Concerto; Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending [SACD]
Rating: 
- A marvellous performance of the Elgar concerto
To my mind this performance of the Elgar violin concerto by Hilary Hahn is immensely satisfying and remarkably mature. The support of the LSO under Sir Colin Davis is excellent. Moreover, on CD the orchestral sound and the balance given to the soloist are both very realistic and effective. Having heard many other performances on record and CD, as well as a number of live performances (by Nigel Kennedy, Cho-Liang Lin, and James Ehnes) I believe Hahn's reading stands comparison with the best. What impressed me particularly were her ability to think in long phrases and to make the notes come alive without resorting to unwelcome sentimentality.
One gripe: why is only the SACD version (which requires special playback equipment) available in the UK? I had to import the CD version from amazon.com (but I'm very glad that I did, all the same).
Rating: - Grows on you
The playing on Lark Ascending is sublime, but I took a while to warm to this version of the Elgar, which I found a little understated at first. Everytime I listen to it, though, I enjoy it more and more, and I think that the (slightly)understated nature of the performance is actually what makes it so good. There is a very clean, almost zen-like quality to this whole album, and the quality of Hilary's playing is refined and elegant. I find some of the reviews I've read which remark on her "lack of maturity" are way off the mark and smacking of intellectual snobbery. Music reviewing, in my opinion, should be done blind, like any good wine tasting, otherwise people are too easily swayed by appearances and by their pre-conceived ideas of age and when certain works should be attempted etc. The bottom line is that Hilary's approach to the Elgar, while maybe different from the norm, is simply quite superb.
- A marvellous performance of the Elgar concertoTo my mind this performance of the Elgar violin concerto by Hilary Hahn is immensely satisfying and remarkably mature. The support of the LSO under Sir Colin Davis is excellent. Moreover, on CD the orchestral sound and the balance given to the soloist are both very realistic and effective. Having heard many other performances on record and CD, as well as a number of live performances (by Nigel Kennedy, Cho-Liang Lin, and James Ehnes) I believe Hahn's reading stands comparison with the best. What impressed me particularly were her ability to think in long phrases and to make the notes come alive without resorting to unwelcome sentimentality.
One gripe: why is only the SACD version (which requires special playback equipment) available in the UK? I had to import the CD version from amazon.com (but I'm very glad that I did, all the same).
Rating:
- Grows on youThe playing on Lark Ascending is sublime, but I took a while to warm to this version of the Elgar, which I found a little understated at first. Everytime I listen to it, though, I enjoy it more and more, and I think that the (slightly)understated nature of the performance is actually what makes it so good. There is a very clean, almost zen-like quality to this whole album, and the quality of Hilary's playing is refined and elegant. I find some of the reviews I've read which remark on her "lack of maturity" are way off the mark and smacking of intellectual snobbery. Music reviewing, in my opinion, should be done blind, like any good wine tasting, otherwise people are too easily swayed by appearances and by their pre-conceived ideas of age and when certain works should be attempted etc. The bottom line is that Hilary's approach to the Elgar, while maybe different from the norm, is simply quite superb.