Schoenberg Violin Concerto Op.36/Sibelius Violin Concerto Op.47
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Free Music Notes for Schoenberg Violin Concerto Op.36/Sibelius Violin Concerto Op.47
Free Music Review: What a pair!
Hit: 5 Stars
Schoenberg wrote two concerti after coming to the U.S., one for violin, the other for piano. The Piano Concerto has had a number of strong advocates over the years, including Glen Gould, Peter Serkin, and Mitsuko Uchida, and I own several recordings of that work that I treasure. I've always wanted to feel the same sense of connection to the Violin Concerto, but had never heard a recording that caught my imagination. Hilary Hahn's new recording with Esa-Pekka Salonen finally does this. Hahn plays the piece as though it were Brahms, and not a technical exercise. The music flows, and the hidden romanticism (which in Schoenberg often lies below an icy layer of irony) seeps through to the surface.
I had never been fond of the Sibelius concerto until I heard a performance of Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting it with Midori. Salonen played the work in a way that seemed not to try to hide the structural quirks of the first movement, but instead emphasized them. Suddenly the work belonged in the 20th century, not the 19th! While Ms. Hahn lacks Midori's intensity in the solo, this performance has the structural aspects I found so compelling in Salonen's treatment of the orchestra from that performance. All told, these two seemingly incompatible conertos make a fascinating pair, and the performers achieve something really astonishing with both works. Brava and Bravo!
Free Music Review: Excellent performance of the Schoenberg concerto
Hit: 5 Stars
The Schoenberg concerto really supprises me. It is one of the most difficult concerto's to play, but Hillary Hahn plays it effortless, with a clear interpretation and with great musicality. To my opinion the Schoenberg concerto is one of her best performances so far. The performance of Sibelius is again technically excellent, but sounds sometimes a bit less on fire. Free Music Review: Ugly Music
Hit: 2 Stars
I love atonal music and usually love Schoenberg's compositions but not this Violin Concerto-It was'nt interesting or enjoyable. If you want to hear a good atonal violin concerto listen to Alban Berg's.
Free Music Review: Is Hilary Hahn that impressive?
Hit: 4 Stars
Hillary's tone is usually rather thin and her playing is often not as colorful as you would like a violinist's playing to be. I won't say she is plain, but you will certainly not describe her playing as full of character or passionate. However, I like the way she played the third movement of the concerto composed by Jean Sibelius. It is not only fast enough, it is also rather impressive with accents at the right places. Unlike her first two movements, she had put in more emotion here and her tone is also richer throughout this movement - away form her usual rather thin tone. Unfortunately, at 0'33", her tempo is slightly out. Similar problem occurs at 03'40. From the momentum of the music, Hilary Hahn shouldn't have slowed down at these places unless she had some rhythm problem. The other violinist Midori did not have such problem. Midori is also a much more interesting violinist with more passion and feeling for this concerto. She is also able to make better use of what a string instrument can do to help conveying one's emotion.
Although I haven't heard other violinists playing Schoenberg Violin Concerto, I don't need to compare to know for sure that I hardly enjoy Hilary's playing of this concerto because of her thin tone and uninteresting playing. The orchestra sounds a lot more interesting than her murmuring - you seem to hear mosquito most of the time.
If one doesn't like Hilary's playing, it is understandable. Must the review written by someone here be deleted so many times just because he gave only one star for Hilary? The last deletion occurred on April 28, 2008 despite the vigorous complaints by this reviewer. What about some absurd reviews given for the pianist Yundi Li's recent CD Prokofiev Concerto no. 2 and some biased editorial reviews for his previous recordings? Three reviewers gave only one star for this outstanding CD Prokofiev Concerto no. 2 that had been picked by The New York Times as one of the best CD of the year 2007. Why doesn't Amazon delete these one-star-reviews for Yundi Li as well? Perhaps I should not come to this place any more.
Free Music Review: Hilary Rules
Hit: 4 Stars
Hilary Hahn is a magnificently gifted fiddler. Her playing is incisive and beautifully thought through. It goes without saying that her technique is impeccable. The Schoenberg in this recording is the finest I've EVER heard, and I've heard it played many times since it is one of the greatest concertos for violin. Never have I heard a version this MUSICAL. It's depth and riches pour from Hahn's gigantic conception. This is a worthy disc many times over because of the performance here of the Schoenberg. The Sibelius is fine but too fast, especially in the third movement. I notice that modern players tend toward quicker tempi, perhaps understandable, yet consider how wonderful it would be to hear a contemporary violinist, especially one bearing the immense gifts Hilary Hahn brings, infuse this Sibelius masterpiece with the impetuous elegance of Oistrakh? One quakes at the thought. I was disappointed just a little with the Sibelius in this way - the captivating shape of the marvelously wrought lines, especially in the first movement, cannot but be blurred to merely a semblance of things at the speed here. Faster is not better, is not more modern, and in fact can be downright unsettling. That being said, dont hesitate to acquire this recording - another jewel from one of the great violinists at work today.