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Epicurus.com - Hilary Hahn - Barber & Meyer: Violin Concertos
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List Price: $13.98
Our Price: $13.98
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0696998902923
Label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: 2000-03-14
Studio: Sony
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Editorial Reviews:
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These two American violin concertos, written 60 years apart, were both commissioned for a young virtuoso but are basically songful and lyrical; indeed, though the Barber is now a staple of the repertoire, its beautiful first two movements were originally rejected as not effective enough, the brilliantly motoric Finale as too difficult. Meyer's was written in 1999 for Hilary Hahn, who premiered it last summer, and for whom nothing is too difficult. She seems equally at home in all the various styles Meyer combines with his usual inventiveness, making the lovely folksong-like melody, which opens the piece and reappears later, sing and soar, then turning into a bluegrass fiddler, swinging along and trading riffs with the orchestra, using drones to produce astonishing double stops, holding the listener's interest even when the music gets repetitious and static. She is a superb violinist, brilliant but not showy; her tone is strikingly beautiful, warm, pure, focused--and she can vary and intensify it with bow and vibrato. Her concentrated expressiveness never flags; she changes moods on a dime. The Barber has controlled passion and ecstasy, and a pensive, contemplative inwardness remarkable in a 19-year-old. --Edith Eisler
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: How Can Anyone Not Like This?
Comment: This is such sweet, evocative, and accessible music played so eloquently that I can't stop playing it -- this CD has been played twice a day here for the last three days! I'm familiar with Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto from the Kyoko Takezawa/Leonard Slatkin recording, a fine enough interpretation on a larger scale; but Hilary Hahn, just 19 when this was released in 2000, exudes such a cool objectivity and firm understanding of Barber's elegiac American expression that one can't help but be taken in by it. Takezawa certainly allowed herself freer rein in much of the work's more emphatic and romantically inclined moments. Her tone also often took on a rougher, darker shade very reminiscent of Anne-Sophie Mutter -- I'm wondering if it's her or her instrument. Hahn, on the other hand, plays in a more controlled manner with perfectly judged phrasing, finely graduated dynamic adjustments, and absolutely superb intonation. (After having heard Hahn on a few recordings, I'm convinced this girl is well-nigh incapable of playing a bad note!) Nothing we hear draws gratuitous attention to itself except Barber's beautifully inevitable scoring and Hahn's impeccable, decidedly feminine realization of it. Another big plus here is the smaller, more intimate compound sonority of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra led by Hugh Wolff who provide the consummate accompaniment. As to the work itself, the first two movements are positively fetching, tuneful and sublime. However, I'm not all that enamored of the frenzied and seemingly disconnected brief finale; it's from a different world entirely, though certainly a virtuoso showcase for both soloist and orchestra; Hahn and the orchestra tear through it with aplomb and fine ensemble.
Edgar Meyer is a virtuoso double-bassist and composer from Tennessee who has made a name for himself in a variety of musical styles. His Violin Concerto was written for Hahn and here represents her first (and so far only) world premiere recording. The work is in two parts and is immediately accessible, blending a firmly tonal American minimalist sensibility with Appalachian folk stylings and even occasional allusions to neoclassical Stravinsky. It's a thoroughly charming and entrancing confection which complements the preceding Barber and is played by all concerned with a winning verve, commitment and convincingness.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Autumn in Spring
Comment: It is like autumn in spring. Slender fingers patter over the neck of the violin like small raindrops on a river. The smooth movement of her wrist brings out slurring notes and her bow glides and bounces over the dead metallic strings- bringing life to the four coils of steel.
Hillary Hahn, 19 years old, plays two American concertos which were both commissioned for a young virtuoso, the Meyer being composed especially for Hahn herself in 1999 as she received the concerto page by page through the fax machine. The Barber concerto, on the other hand, was originally composed for a Philadelphia industrialist Samuel Fels, who wanted a showy concerto for his son. Its first two movements are very melodic and enchanting, while the finale is brilliant and technically difficult.
Hahn's tone is very rich and beautiful- she knows how to control the bow and her vibrato. In the third movement of the Barber, she dashes through with intense speed as the notes scurry on like a small animal running through the woods at night. In the Meyer, which is "her" concerto, she begins with a sweet melody that reminds one of a misty early morning lake in Scotland. The piece graduates to a grander scale, as we leave the lake and run over rugged gorges from a bird's eye view. The music is more like a soundtrack for a spectacle movie but gets a little repetitious in the middle as a similar melody drones on. However, it moves on to a lively bluegrass melody as Hahn performs double stops that would be just the thing for a square dance.
Hahn's playing is lyrical and technically astonishing. It is much like her physical appearance- delicate with a no-nonsense manner. She is particularly good when she performs the fast sections. However, her overall performance doesn't seem to have much depth. It is like ice-skating with marvelous jumps and lunges, but the music never gets beneath the ice. The heart-wrenching melodies are beautiful but not as soulful as they could be. Nonetheless, she performs with a manner that not many adults have, and shows immense love and interest for the music- which are all professional traits that make her one of the best.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I Need This Recording
Comment: I got this from the library this past spring. It was a rare case of absolute love at first measure. This strange and wondrous concerto cannot help but fascinate, and the ever-astounding Hilary Hahn gives a performance that I feel sure would meet with Samuel Barber's approval and highest admiration.
... Furthermore, if I do not get this for my birthday I will most certainly run down the street screaming like a bad Wagner soprano.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Barber is a classic, the Meyer is forgettable crossover piffle
Comment: It's a bit shocking that almost every reviewer here equates these two works. The Barber concerto has become a classic, with four or five major recordings since it returned to popularity thanks to Gil Shaham's DG recording that paired it with the even more lush, ar more neglected Korngold concerto. The Meyer work has no chance of reaching such a status. It is quasi-minimalist piffle with overtones of Copland, bluegrass, and anonyous folksiness. I heard Play the work--she is its dedicatee--with the Boston Sym., and I was embarrassed for the musicians. Asking a major symphony orchestra to play a work whose challenges wouldn't frighten a junior high band was shameful.
But Sony has commerical savvy on its side. Hahn sells better than almost anyone except Joshua Bell, and they wanted to attract the same audience that Meyer pleas3ed with his Appalachian Journey CD and other crossover bestsellers with Yo-Yo Ma and Bell. Even so, his attempt at Philip glass For Dummies strikes me as quite poor, and even Hahan's charismatic presence can't salvage it. Thank goodness for the Barber, a lovely account that belong with the best, especially because Ms. Hahn plays the Presto finale as fast as lightning. By comparison everyone else seem to be dawdling.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Meyer and Hahn Score Big
Comment: I first heard this piece (the Meyer concerto) on the radio about a month and a half ago and was so immediately struck by it that I ordered my own copy right then and there. I can't believe that this recording has not received more air play and is so little known. But then I notice that a lot of fine recent compositions don't receive much attention.
I have been aware of Hahn for a few years now, but was not especially impressed with her. Her recording of the Brahms concerto, which I ordered at the same time, confirms my impression that she was a capable but not yet mature musician at the time she recorded it.
However, I must say that the Meyer piece suits her right down to the ground and she responds to it with everything she's got, and it turns out to be quite a lot. She is of course immaculately precise with not a wrong note. But that's the minimum we expect of professionals. What impresses is the range of moods and energies that she encompasses here, and fearlessly too. She alternately sweet, gay, introspective, and ferocious, as the composition demands. Meyer wrote this piece expressly for her, beginning when she was only 16 and completing it three years later, and I think he read his subject well.
This is a virtuoso piece and technically demanding. But it is not merely showy. Everything in it is there for a solid musical reason, and it works on that level as well. It is a well balanced work. Although the soloist is front and center though virtually the entire performance, the orchestra is not relegated to the role of mere spear carriers. There is a true dialogue between the soloist and the members of the orchestra, both individually and tutti. And the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra performs extremely well here.
My all time favorite violin concertos are the Brahms, Sibelius, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky in more or less that order. Whether the Meyer belongs in that august company it is much too soon to say. Perhaps not. It will be interesting to see if other soloists take it up, and if so, what they make of it. But I must confess to a present infatuation with it. I played this recording six times in the first two days I had it. You must understand that this is something I never do. I generally make it a practice not to listen to a piece more than once a day so as not to make it stale. An exceptional recording I might listen to twice in a day. But I could not seem to get enough of the Meyer-Hahn collaboration here. You go, Girl!
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