Hilary Hahn

Started by gmstudio, December 30, 2007, 01:09:53 PM

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ChopinBroccoli

Quote from: staxomega on October 27, 2019, 07:57:05 AM
No denying she is one of the most attractive musicians in classical music, but she does deserve being called a serious musician. I saw her play D960, and outside of some minor slips only noticeable if you're familiar with the score this was a performance that could nearly stand along the ranks of Richter, Sokolov (aware there is no official releases of this) and Fiorentino in grand world moving execution. And she played the much needed repeat unlike another arrogant, academic type house pianist for another major label, turning in dry, mannered recording after recording. I do agree with you that she records much of the same popular repertoire, but that same thing can be said about any number of male and female (both attractive, unattractive, old and new) pianists recording these days. I can't say I have a grand desire to rush out and hear many of these works when I already have a handful or more reference performances.

IMHO the slam on Naxos pianists is also a bit unfair, I've heard many of them that could be recording on major labels. Maybe they lack the ability to market themself properly, something that is really needed if you aren't an established name living on from the old world of pianism. I am glad I only have to play piano for myself, I can't even imagine how stressful it must be trying to land jobs in this saturated market that someone else mentioned; matching into an absurdly competitive fellowship was one of the most stressful moments of my life that I have no desire to relive!

Not related to your post CB, this was a thread I started on how we can be prejudiced about preformed notions when it comes to any number of things in life, I know this plays a big effect in medicine and why we always do RCTs, and it is obvious with audiophiles as well when they can hear differences in all sorts of tweaks in sighted listening but can't detect them in blind listening.

A poor quality picture of Khatia from that concert to lighten up my post!



I was referring to NAXOS as it's performers (particularly soloists) would've been seen at that time... decent, professional grade but most of the time not elite

And I'm sorry, but comparing her to Richter? Maybe Richter in his 70s
"If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it!"
- Handel

staxomega

Quote from: ChopinBroccoli on October 28, 2019, 07:36:25 AM
I was referring to NAXOS as it's performers (particularly soloists) would've been seen at that time... decent, professional grade but most of the time not elite

And I'm sorry, but comparing her to Richter? Maybe Richter in his 70s

I wasn't comparing her as a musician to Richter, just that single performance of D960 was almost as good as the live recordings I've heard from him on Melodiya and the Salzburg studio recording from 1972. To turn in such a performance with that much gravitas warrants being considered a serious musician. And the comparison to Richter in his 70s is peculiar as well as his tempi could be belabored at that point and her playing in the show pieces in the second half of the concert was quite the opposite.

ChopinBroccoli

I wasn't making a literal comparison

I was making a sarcastic one
"If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it!"
- Handel

staxomega

#83
Quote from: ChopinBroccoli on October 28, 2019, 12:12:35 PM
I wasn't making a literal comparison

I was making a sarcastic one

I'm not sure the sarcasm really works here; in order for it work there would have to stylistically be some semblance in their shared pianism. Are you more familiar with Richter just as a big name pianist or intimately familiar with vast recorded output? Because I was not drawing any comparison with the former, this is his famous recording of D960 if you have never heard it. He has many fine live performances of it as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lncNcNtGkJY

Edit: I'll quote the words I used to be clear I was only making the comparison with D960 "this was a performance that could nearly stand along the ranks of Richter, Sokolov (aware there is no official releases of this) and Fiorentino in grand world moving execution". As a big Richter fan I would never draw a general comparison between the two!

Moonfish

Quote from: ChopinBroccoli on October 26, 2019, 02:07:12 PM
Why don't YOU start one called "Hillary Hahn's violin playing discussion- no deviation allowed"?

No need to be an ass, Broccoli guy!
"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want...."
Anna Lappé

ChopinBroccoli

Quote from: Moonfish on October 28, 2019, 10:31:04 PM
No need to be an ass, Broccoli guy!

Sorry?  The ass is the guy who clearly read only page 4 and started preaching

You have yet to make a statement that's actually about Hillary Hahn ... just here to preach
"If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it!"
- Handel

Herman

#86
Quote from: Moonfish on October 17, 2019, 11:47:17 AM
[Hahn] comes across as a performer that is attuned to music rather than marketing. After all, she is not cranking out album after album. The discography is minimal.
I very much enjoyed the Bruch concerto.

Hahn does both. She has a huge Instagram following. She makes videos of just about everything she does, and that includes jumping in a lake wearing her concert gown, just to show (as if) she's still a teen at heart.

She made a vid of herself plying the violin plying a hula hoop at the same time, along with those annoying Two Set Violin kids.

It looks like she likes having fun.

And she makes  lot of records.

This mixed offensive, both on social media and in hardcore recordings and concerts, has been very successful. Especially in the US there are a lot of kids that believe that she's the greatest violinist since Heifetz. She consistently appears at the top of favorite violinist lists in America.  Not so much in other parts of the world, but them's the breaks.

In my opinion she's a very very good violinist, but somehow whatever she records never makes it to the ultimate top because it's too much about control and application, she never goes crazy, which is what you're hearing if you listen to Janine Jansen or Lisa Batiashvili. I guess this just says I have never seen her play live.

What I like about her is that she's basically a normal person. She doesn't do "hot woman violinist." (I know some guys talk about her as "hot" on this topic, but that's because some guys will get hard just from watching paint dry.) She talks about having kids. She refuses to go along with the 10 million dollar Strad game; she's been playing a 19th century French violin like forever and nobody even hears the difference.

ChopinBroccoli

Amen to the Strad comment

Nobody hears the difference because there isn't one
"If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it!"
- Handel

bluemooze


Herman

Right, she doesn't act as if there's nothing in life but playing concerts.

pjme



Any thoughts on this release?

The only works I know by Abril are concertante works with piano (and "Alegrias", a "cantata -divertimento" for children's chorus and orchestra that I definitely did not enjoy...).
However, Nocturnos De La Antequeruela Para Piano Y Orquesta de Cuerda, I find very engaging.



The concerto for piano and orchestra isn't bad either (20th century / cfr. Bartok Prokofiev/ Poulenc/Ravel...) , the Nocturnos do have a wonderful mysterious quality that is very poetic.