Title : Bach Concertos
Author : Bach, Johann Sebastian
Release Date : 20030909
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $16.98
Amazon.com Price : $13.99
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Editorial Reviews : Hilary Hahn is certainly one of the best young violinists before the public. Now 23 years old, she has abundantly fulfilled her early promise as a radiantly talented as well as singularly earnest prodigy, and grown into a brilliant violinist and a communicative, arresting performer. On this recording, which features Bach's Violin Concertos in A minor, BWV 1041 and E major, BWV 1042, as well as the Concerto for two violins in D minor, BWV 1043 and the Concerto for violin and oboe in C minor, BWV 1060, her flawless technique and strikingly beautiful, intensely focussed tone are on full display. There is a noble, restrained quality in her playing, so that although her tone-production and vibrato are 'modern,' her sound has a classical, pristine purity. (By contrast, the orchestral sound, though good, is surprisingly lush - a rather odd discrepancy.) Hahn's interplay with her two excellent partners is close and unanimous in tone and style; the less familiar Concerto for violin and oboe is especially compelling. Unfortunately, Hilary Hahn, despite her serious, thoughtful approach to music, seems to have succumbed to the current trend among today's performers--perhaps symptomatic of the jet-age--to play as fast as their fingers will carry them. The fast movements are taken at such speeds that they lose all their elegance, grace and charm, become prone to false accents, and sound aggressive, hectic and breathless. A performer with less musical integrity might be suspected of just wanting to show off her effortless facility. However, Hahn's musicality, expressiveness and affinity for Bach (she has also recorded the unaccompanied solo violin works on Sony) come through in the slow movements, where the playing is calm, expansive enough for carefully shaped phrases, emotionally concentrated, and simply beautiful. --Edith Eisler
Buyer Reviews : Hilary Hahn gives us yet another outstanding album in her first effort on the Deutsche Grammophon label. The first word that comes to mind with these performances is 'crisp.' They are precise in tempo and tone; exactly how Bach is meant to be performed! Even slower passages are performed with pulse and bounce. There's no sluggishness like in other renditions that I've heard. One gets the impression that the ensemble strives to honor every intention of Bach.
The performers then prove that 'crisp' and 'lyrical' are not mutually exclusive. The complex voicings weave and un-weave in masterful and musical fashion; the musical lines ebb and flow with purity--nothing out of place or character. I cannot escape the feeling that the musicians have given thought to the performance of each note and from that attention to detail comes a beautiful whole.
Shortly after Bach's time, the structure of a concerto changed from an ensemble piece for chamber musicians to a piece for soloist and full orchestra. Hence many recordings of these pieces are done by 'name' soloists and 'name' orchestras and lose their intimacy in the process. This recording does not; kudos to DG and Hahn for the choice of the thoroughly musical and consummately professional Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for this disc.
The Double Concerto (BWV 1043) is probably the gem of this disc. Bach's original scoring for this piece was intended for either two violins or two harpsichords, which makes one truly appreciate the genius of a composer able to write a single piece that is effective for both a sustaining and a non-sustaining instrument. Hahn and second violinist Margaret Batjer are perfect in their execution of the counterpoint in the first and third movement. The largo ma non tanto movement is phenomenal, as one violin plays the musical line and the other violin accents it in a way that makes the notes from the first better.
This disc also contains a piece that I was not overly familiar with--the Concerto for Oboe, Violin, Strings, and Continuo in C minor, BWV 1060. In the only other performances of this piece that I've heard, the violin squeaks, the oboe squeaks, and the piece sounds like the flock of gulls in 'Finding Nemo.' Not so here. The oboe's sound at its best should be like a water drop forming on a faucet--starting gently, filling roundly, and dropping cleanly. Oboist Allan Vogel achieves this. Of course, no composer mastered the interplay of two instruments better than Johann Sebastian Bach--Hahn and Vogel are capable of showcasing that interplay.
If I have one tiny, minuscule, Carl-you-need-to-get-a-life nitpick, it's with the choice of another Bach album for Hilary Hahn. Her previous Bach album proved that she has nothing left to prove when it comes to ability or musicianship (as all violinists seem to have to prove themselves worthy before the altar of the mighty Chaconne). I would have preferred that she broaden her recorded catalog rather than deepening it. I suspect that this was DG's request; Hahn has been rather daring with her choice of pieces (Barber, Meyer, Bernstein, Stravinsky in addition to the standard repertoire for violin) in her Sony recordings. Perhaps in the three albums remaining on her new DG contract she will apply her formidable talents to Sibelius, Bruch, or Elgar and I may be happy then and not driven to find a fault with such an outstanding recording.
