Hornteacher meets Hilary Hahn! A Concert Review

[hornteacher]

Sorry this is long, but trust me its worth reading.  I'll put some pictures up soon.

Last night I attended a joint performance of classical and folk music by violinist Hilary Hahn and acoustic guitarist Josh Ritter.  The concert was held at Guilford College's Dana Auditorium in Greensboro, North Carolina.  The hall was very lovely and small enough to get a more personal atmosphere.

The concert started with Hilary and Josh coming out together.  Josh introduced himself as Hilary Hahn which got a laugh, and then talked about the idea of the two of them performing together.  Josh cracked a few jokes while Hilary stood behind him and made goofy faces to the audience, poking fun at Josh.  Hilary then took the microphone and explained the format of the concert as a mix of what the two of them do best in their own discipline and then in combination with each other.  They both were very self-deprecating in their humor.  Hillary told the audience that she "would try not to screw up Josh's songs too much" with her playing and Josh looked around the auditorium, smiling nervously and said "I'm not used to playing in such a nice hall."

Hilary then left the stage and turned the first part of the concert over to Josh who performed some of his songs, including "Wings", "Baby, That's Not All", and "Girl in the War".  His music and stage presence reminds me so much of early acoustic Bob Dylan without the harmonica and raspy voice.  The music was very subtle, folk influenced, and beautifully played.  Like Dylan, he would crack jokes between songs while doodling on the guitar.  One of the songs, "Potter's Wheel", he mentioned was based on Schubert's "Gretchen and the Spinning Wheel".  He introduced the song by saying: "When I was young my music teacher introduced me to Schubert.......<pause>.......well, not personally.  But Schubert was a guy who wrote a lot of songs.  He was also very short.  So I figured if I was going to stand in somebody's shadow, it ought to be someone who was four foot eleven."

Josh ended his solo set by playing a folk tune called "Last Rose of the Summer".  Hilary then came on stage and performed a theme and variations on "Last Rose of the Summer" arranged by Ernst.  The variations ranged as one would expect from lyrical to technical to virtuosic.  Hilary played with perfect accuracy and smiled at the audience when a clap of thunder hit outside during a softer passage.

To close the first half of the concert Hilary and Josh played together on one of Josh's songs "The Blue Flame".  The song was beautiful and the combination of the two instruments with Josh's voice was extremely pleasing to the ear.  Two things happened during the song, however.  First, another much louder clap of thunder hit outside just as Josh sang a lyric about rainfall.  The audience chuckled while Hilary and Josh smiled at each other.  Second, right in the middle of the song, two of Josh's guitar strings snapped (it looked like string numbers 4 and 5).  The really cool thing was, without stopping, he turned to Hilary who immediately took over improvising the melody lines on her violin while Josh played the bass part on his low strings and yanked out the broken ones between phrases.  He then sang the final verse playing the bass line while Hilary filled in the chords by playing double stops on the violin, all without breaking the flow of the music.  Needless to say there was a huge standing ovation from the audience.

The second half of the program belonged mostly to Hilary.  She came out alone and jokingly said that if you weren't into Baroque violin music you could leave for about twenty minutes (no one left of course).  The talking microphone had been accidentally taken off stage during intermission so Hillary tried talking in a higher pitched voice to be heard while the crew brought the microphone back out.  She mentioned that it reminded her of her lessons with Jascha Brodsky who was 83 at the time Hillary started at the Curtis Institute (she was 10).

"Its a common thing for violinists to lose the upper range of their hearing later in life because they have this loud screeching going on in their left ear all the time.  Mr. Brodsky often couldn't hear my high pitched ten year old voice during lessons.  I'd come in and say:

<talking in high pitched voice> "I've prepared the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto this week."

<cocks her head to the side, imitating Brodsky's confusion>.

<speaking slowly and high pitched again> "Men......del.......ssohn."

She added that although Brodsky often couldn't hear her talking he certainly could hear every note she played.

She then proceeded to play the entire Violin Sonata number 2 by Bach.  She performed the fugue with such intensity that the audience broke out into applause immediately after the movement.  A huge standing ovation followed after the final Allegro which seemed to flatter her greatly.

Next Hilary performed the third of six violin sonatas written by Brodsky's teacher, Eugene Ysaye, which Hilary mentioned were all composed in one evening.  Then she performed Ernst's violin caprice on Schubert's "Erlkonig" which led into Josh Ritter returning and performing his own adaptation of the song which he called "The Oak Tree King".

Hilary's final two solo numbers were Paganini's Caprice number 24 and Milstein's "Paganiniana for Violin", both of which allowed Hillary show off some real virtuoso fireworks.  She mentioned that Paganini often did not play with an orchestra as a soloist until the actual performance so no one knew exactly what he was going to be doing.  Because of Paganini's virtuosic technique his violin was nicknamed "The Cannon" (which Hilary had a bit too much fun talking about because she kept making cannon sound effects into the microphone whenever she mentioned the instrument).  The pieces themselves had some unbelievably hard passages.  One variation was played all on one string in the extreme highest range of the violin.  Another had Hilary plucking bass notes and bowing double stopped chords at the same time.  Still another had her skipping the bow across all four strings back and forth as she played a staccato variation of the theme.......and so on.  Another standing ovation after this performance, and several curtain calls.

Finally Hilary and Josh returned together for two numbers as an encore.  Hilary accompanying Josh on one of his songs and then Josh accompanying Hillary on another Paganini piece for violin and piano.  Josh played the piano part on his acoustic, crossing his fingers comically while Hilary introduced the piece and commenting that he was relieved to discover that Guilford College did not have a classical guitar program in their music department.

In the lobby after the concert about a third of the audience stayed for the signing.  Josh came out first and started meeting people right away.  When someone called out "Where's Hilary?"  Josh replied.  "She's coming, she's doing girl stuff."  About five minutes later Hilary comes out, having changed into more casual clothes.  She sat down at a desk and dove right into signing autographs, taking pictures, and shaking hands.  A good chunk of the people there were college students from Guilford and from UNCG which is a rather good music school just down the road from Guilford.  There were also some younger children there who came with their families.  Hilary was especially friendly to the little kids and posed for lots of pictures with them.

I took lots of pictures and videos during the signing, but only a handful turned out well because the light was low and we were asked to use a flash vary sparingly.  When I got to the front I handed Hilary the jacket to her Bach Concertos CD which she happily signed.  I thanked her for staying afterwards to meet everyone.  She said "Oh no problem, it's my pleasure."  We had our picture taken together by one of my friends who came to the concert with me, and then I handed her a thank you card with a note I had written to her.  She thanked me very much and then I made room for the next visitor as there were still a lot of people waiting.  My friend that came with me did notice, however, that I was the only person who actually gave Hilary something, which he thought was very classy.

So there it is, my first live encounter with one of my personal heroines, and it was everything I wanted it to be.  She was musically amazing, highly intelligent, and genuinely humble.  One of the nicest people I've ever met.  Oh yeah, I also became a Josh Ritter fan overnight.  What an evening it was.

[hornteacher]

Hilary and Josh on stage at the end of the concert.

[hornteacher]

Hilary during the signing.

[hornteacher]

Hilary and Me!  (a little blurry but still good).

[beclemund]

Hopefully the thank you card you slipped her didn't include the marriage proposal from your sig.

Thank you for sharing your story.

[Bogey]

  There were also some younger children there who came with their families.  Hilary was especially friendly to the little kids and posed for lots of pictures with them.

Cool!

[SonicMan46]

Hilary and Me!  (a little blurry but still good).

Hornteacher - but did you 'pop' the question!     Glad that you had a great time - I was thinking about attending that concert but am between several trips - for those in the area, this is part of the Eastern Musical Festival that continues for a number of weeks w/ a lot of 'outside' performers comin' into the Triad Area of North Carolina! 

[MishaK]

She was musically amazing, highly intelligent, and genuinely humble.  One of the nicest people I've ever met.

That's exactly the impression I got from her every time I've seen her. Glad you had an enjoyable evening.

[Mark G. Simon]

  My friend that came with me did notice, however, that I was the only person who actually gave Hilary something,

A ring? 

[hornteacher]

Hornteacher - but did you 'pop' the question! 

A gentleman never discusses marriage on the first date.   

[bhodges]

Second, right in the middle of the song, two of Josh's guitar strings snapped (it looked like string numbers 4 and 5).  The really cool thing was, without stopping, he turned to Hilary who immediately took over improvising the melody lines on her violin while Josh played the bass part on his low strings and yanked out the broken ones between phrases.  He then sang the final verse playing the bass line while Hilary filled in the chords by playing double stops on the violin, all without breaking the flow of the music.  Needless to say there was a huge standing ovation from the audience.

This bit of spontaneity was my favorite part of your very nice piece!  Congratulations, it sounds like you had a great experience, not only at the concert but afterward.  (I'm a big Hilary fan, too, by the way.)

--Bruce

[Maciek]

Looks like you had a great date! Thanks for sharing with us.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Congratulations ! Now on to Julia Fischer !

[Iago]

Naive puppy!!!  That's what you are.

YOU had a great time, and you will remember your "Hillary Encounter" for quite a few weeks, months or even years. But I hope you realize that SHE, no doubt, forgot about you in less than 3 minutes after your meeting concluded. Why are YOU so celebrity conscious? Remember, she uses the bathroom several times a day, needs oxygen to sustain life and is not a special human being by any stretch of the imagination. So she plays the violin well. What do YOU do that she can't do?
As I have stated multiple times I worked at Tanglewood for several years, and had more than one conversation with important men of music. Among them, Monteux, Munch, Bernstein, Copland, Sir Colin Davis, Itzhak Perlman, Issac Stern and Rudolf Serkin. They were amicable, humorous and approachable in every way. But after that, I NO LONGER was in awe of them. I realized that they were just human beings with a particular talent in a particular profession, and that each and every one of them put on their pants one leg at a time, and probably even suffered from constipation as frequently as any other member of the human race.

[M forever]

Interesting to note how fascinated Iago is with going to the bathroom and constipation. I guess that comes with high age and all the frustrating ailments that go along with it.

BTW, I think quite a few people actually put on their pants both legs at the same time, by sitting or lying down on the bed, leaning back and pulling them up.

[Steve]

Naive puppy!!!  That's what you are.

YOU had a great time, and you will remember your "Hillary Encounter" for quite a few weeks, months or even years. But I hope you realize that SHE, no doubt, forgot about you in less than 3 minutes after your meeting concluded. Why are YOU so celebrity conscious? Remember, she uses the bathroom several times a day, needs oxygen to sustain life and is not a special human being by any stretch of the imagination. So she plays the violin well. What do YOU do that she can't do?
As I have stated multiple times I worked at Tanglewood for several years, and had more than one conversation with important men of music. Among them, Monteux, Munch, Bernstein, Copland, Sir Colin Davis, Itzhak Perlman, Issac Stern and Rudolf Serkin. They were amicable, humorous and approachable in every way. But after that, I NO LONGER was in awe of them. I realized that they were just human beings with a particular talent in a particular profession, and that each and every one of them put on their pants one leg at a time, and probably even suffered from constipation as frequently as any other member of the human race.

Ahh, is there nobody that you admire?  

[Mozart]

Hilary and Me!  (a little blurry but still good).

Smile man, Jesus christ your meeting your idol!

[PerfectWagnerite]

Naive puppy!!!  That's what you are.

YOU had a great time, and you will remember your "Hillary Encounter" for quite a few weeks, months or even years. But I hope you realize that SHE, no doubt, forgot about you in less than 3 minutes after your meeting concluded. Why are YOU so celebrity conscious? Remember, she uses the bathroom several times a day, needs oxygen to sustain life and is not a special human being by any stretch of the imagination. So she plays the violin well. What do YOU do that she can't do?
As I have stated multiple times I worked at Tanglewood for several years, and had more than one conversation with important men of music. Among them, Monteux, Munch, Bernstein, Copland, Sir Colin Davis, Itzhak Perlman, Issac Stern and Rudolf Serkin. They were amicable, humorous and approachable in every way. But after that, I NO LONGER was in awe of them. I realized that they were just human beings with a particular talent in a particular profession, and that each and every one of them put on their pants one leg at a time, and probably even suffered from constipation as frequently as any other member of the human race.

Come on Iago. The guy is happy at meeting Hilary. He's been looking foward to it. Let him has his moment.

[hornteacher]

Smile man, Jesus christ your meeting your idol!

Trust me, that IS my smile.

[Mozart]

Trust me, that IS my smile.

You shoulda put your hand around her daddy-o.

Boy whoever took the picture sucks!

She sure looks prettier in your picture too than that one