Star-Ledger praises Hilary Hahn's ‘thrilling’ performance
Violin star Hilary Hahn joined the NJSO this weekend for performances of Brahms’ Violin Concerto, garnering rave reviews from The Star-Ledger, Princeton Town Topics and Examiner.com.
The Star-Ledger writes:
As the soloist for Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Hahn took on a challenging, highly dramatic work that can often be full of machismo and harsh attacks in performance.
It was a surprising choice, but without losing its emotional intensity, she provided a fresh take marked by immaculate technique, elegance and long musical lines.
Led by Yan Pascal Tortelier, who conducted with bare hands, the orchestra started her off with a regal opening and then crisp, bracing tone leading up to the solo entrance.
From her first notes, Hahn was fierce and confident in demanding and elaborate passages — without overdone showmanship, vibrato or volume that would draw attention to its difficulties — and her tone was pristine, notably in her upper range. Her performance was uncommonly subtle and intimate, showing a definite interpretation and sensibility.
Whether her line was circling obsessively or reaching moments of idyll, lyrical yearning or resignation (during which she dropped richly into the lower range), Hahn sounded fully connected to the piece. She maintained delicacy and smoothness in her cadenza, with tumbling descents sounding as easy and natural as sand sliding through one’s fingers.
Tortelier led the orchestra and soloist in a firmly unified performance. The NJSO’s sound was hearty and thoughtfully shaded, with sweet, wistful sighs in the first movement’s lyrical passages and bright moments of triumph. Robert Ingliss’ focused oboe solo enhanced the moody, suspenseful Adagio.
Hahn seemed to convey Brahms’ fervor more through speed than force, and took the third movement at an especially lively pace. The sense of bravado, drive and festive dance made for a rewarding conclusion.
Read the full review at nj.com.
Princeton Town Topics writes:
[The NJSO] presented a real treat to the community this past weekend with violinist Hilary Hahn. Playing Johannes Brahms’ demanding Violin Concerto in D Major, Ms. Hahn brought the audience at Richardson Auditorium down to pin drop level several times with her fiery playing, tempered with lyrical melodic lines ...
Ms. Hahn was able to create graceful cadences amidst continuous action for the soloist and mesmerized the audience with extended solo passages and a cadenza during which one could hear a pin drop in the audience. She used the full weight of her body while playing, while the musicians of the NJSO were perfectly timed with her. When not playing, Ms. Hahn often watched the orchestral players, showing that she was never for a moment disengaged from the music. Several players excelled at solo passages during the concerto, including oboist Robert Ingliss, bassoonist Robert Wagner, and concertmaster Eric Wyrick.
Read the full review at towntopics.com.
Examiner.com writes:
[Hahn’s] demeanour was a demonstration of an artist’s total absorption in the work at hand. Hers was not so much a performance as an experience for her, as she allowed the orchestral fabric to enfold her. At once athletic and balletic, her playing stance rhythmically propelled her back and forth next to the conductor’s podium. In free moments she often turned to observe the orchestra, truly sharing the experience at one with them, marking tempo with head and shoulders.
In an interview Wednesday, Hilary Hahn told Examiner.com how a newcomer to orchestral concerts could listen for the greatest enjoyment. “What I love about performing concerts is, first of all there are no distractions. You can just sort of throw it out there and let the music take you wherever. It’s about being open, being neutral, being interested and letting the music just take you somewhere, like you’re riding a current. In doing that you will notice a lot of things that you might not if you were really trying to listen for them. It’s the most fun when you can travel through the performance with the music and just have your own experience with it.” Practical advice for the seasoned concert-goer too.
Read the full Examiner.com feature.
Prior to the weekend, Hahn spoke with Playbill Arts about her return performances with the NJSO:
PLAYBILL: You will play four concerts with the NJSO in three different cities across the state. What is unique about performing the same work with the same orchestra in different spaces?
HAHN: We will learn a lot about each other, for sure. Live, adrenaline-fueled performance brings out a lot of ideas that don’t tend to show themselves in rehearsal. Onstage, there is constant observation, invention, interaction, and spontaneity. Everything the sheet music tells us is relative: approximately how much longer and louder this note is than that one, the basic feel of a section, quicker vs slower in tempo, higher vs lower in pitch. Those are a lot of variables, and the details are up for interpretation. It is crucial to rehearse as much as possible in advance; the better we know each other’s playing, and the closer we can align our musical goals, the more freedom we can have in performance.
Playing the same piece with the same colleagues in varied settings adds to that flexibility. Each stage highlights different instruments; each hall gives different feedback; each trip brings different energy. We have to listen even closer to each other and react even quicker. It’s fun to be part of an evolving interpretation.
Read the full Q&A at playbillarts.com.
Previously, The Wall Street Journal and The Star-Ledger named the NJSO’s concerts among the weekend’s best.
The Wall Street Journal writes:
Violinist Hilary Hahn moves from short pieces—she has recently been commissioning and recording encores—to one of the violin warhorses: the Brahms violin concerto. Ms. Hahn joins the New Jersey Symphony for a program that also includes Stravinsky’s "Firebird Suite" and Esa-Pekka Salonen's "Giro." After Saturday’s concert, as part of an education initiative dubbed #OrchestraYou, instrumentally inclined audience members are invited to play alongside orchestra members for a rehearsal and performance of a movement from Bizet’s "Carmen Suite." Guest conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts.
The Star-Ledger writes:
Leading violinist Hilary Hahn joins the NJSO to tackle Brahms’ challenging Violin Concerto in a concert presented jointly by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center . The program that also includes Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” Suite (1945 version) and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “Giro.” Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts at NJPAC Thursday and Saturday, at the Richardson Auditorium Friday, and at the Mayo Performing Arts Center Sunday, njsymphony.org
Classicallite gets excited about #OrchestraYou—a special post-concert session in which audience members performed their own orchestral instruments alongside NJSO musicians after the March 15 concert at NJPAC.
Jacques Lacombe and the NJSO are thriving there in Newark with a lot of great ideas.
Case in point: On Saturday, March 15, #OrchestraYou will celebrate music educators, music students as well as their families and supporters with a special concert from Jersey’s best band (sorry, Bruce) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
This latest initiative from the NJSO is part of their larger Music Education Night, which will feature young talented musicians thoughout [sic] the community, as well as Yan Pascal Tortelier conducting Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Giro and Stravinsky’s 1945 Firebird Suite.
And speaking of fresh classical talent, they don’t get any more fresh than violinist Hilary Hahn performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this concert will debut the NJSO’s very first pro-am orchestra...#OrchestraYou
Specifically, #OrchestraYou will consist of students, teachers, administrators, subscribers, music lovers and NJSO musicians congregated together for the Jeff Grogan-led “Toreadors Song” from Bizet’s Carmen.
There is no charge to get involved, of course, but you do need a concert ticket and pre-registration creds to participate.You can purchase tickets and register by calling 1-800-ALLEGRO. Brilliant!
So, in the meantime, break out your dusty instruments and start practicing because, once again, Jersey (not New York) is hosting a truly magical event for music enthusiasts of all ages and kinds.