Hilary Hahn Plays with Singer Songwriter Josh Ritter

Pauline Lerner is from Rockville, Maryland.

Hilary Hahn Plays with Singer Songwriter Josh Ritter

Published: Apr. 25, 2008 at 4:19 AM
I have heard Hilary Hahn play solo (Bach S&P), with one other classical musician (a pianist in Mozart duets), and as a soloist with an entire orchestra (numerous concertos). Now for something different: I have heard her play duets with the folk guitarist and singer Joshua Ritter. Most of the time, they play Josh’s folk music with Hilary in the role of backup musician, but they also perform some classical music, in which their roles are reversed.

I have a personal interest in this type of performance because I often find myself playing backup to a singer/guitarist but without the benefit of prior rehearsal.

Hilary and Josh have played together for a few years, and they have grown into their respective roles of music partners. Hilary Hahn plays like Hilary Hahn in this duo. She does not try to emulate the sound of the great folk fiddlers. Her personal style fits as well with Josh’s music as with the music of a classical musician. When Josh is playing lead, Hilary’s eyes are riveted on him for visual, as well as musical clues, on what to do. In this clip, she starts out as a purely backup player, “humming” along with a few notes on her violin. After a while, her improvised harmony gets louder and more musically complex. Instead of a fiddle break (solo), which would take place in truly traditional playing, Hilary and Josh play a duet, with Hilary playing lead. The sound of the violin then subsides as guitar and voice take the lead again. At the very end, both musicians again play important roles. This song would sound much different and much more monotonous without Hilary. Josh’s guitar harmony is not particularly inspired, as Hilary’s harmony is. Perhaps most important of all, Hilary’s playing makes the entire piece sound so much sweeter.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted via 172.168.86.72 on April 25, 2008 at 5:04 AM

He has a real nice voice, but I wish he sang this particular song more like Dwight Yocum would :) In this song, a country singer would likely accent the last note of each phrase strongly in this song; the first 1 after every two measures of singing I think it is. Nasal twang, Josh! Go for it. Imagine you're wearing snakeskin boots and a cowboy hat...

From Karen Sternkopf
Posted via 69.23.65.31 on April 25, 2008 at 3:27 PM

It is beautiful! EVERYTHING about it! Thanks for sharing.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted via 138.88.94.43 on April 26, 2008 at 4:25 AM

I found Josh's guitar playing so boring that after a while, it became offensive. He must know more than that sequence of four notes he kept playing over and over without even a different or interesting strum. Hilary made the performance sound good, even when she was just contributing a few well placed notes in the background.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted via 172.162.93.108 on April 26, 2008 at 6:30 AM

Pauline, here's the song that might have been the inspriration for Josh's, maybe unconsciously. The melody and especially rhythm of the verse are identical, plus it was a famous song. Great video too :)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dc86_Weoye0

I hear a lot of people Josh's age, and they don't have our taste for complicated accompaniment. That was a tradition that came mainly through Rev. Gary Davis and Joseph Spence. If you like complicated folk guitar, look them up.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted via 138.88.94.43 on April 26, 2008 at 2:27 PM

Jim, thanks for the link to that video. The melody and rhythm of the two songs were similar, but the mood was very, very different.

I heard Arlo Guthrie perform a few years ago. As a lead-in to one song, he played two chords with an open strum and remarked, "Remember back in the 60s when you could get away with things like that?"

From Christopher McGovern
Posted via 76.23.234.151 on April 26, 2008 at 4:25 PM

I've now seen this performance twice, and for me, it's a really big treat to see it at all for several reasons--1) Being a fan of both classical and pop music it's the best of both worlds; 2) Being a fan of HH, it exposes people like me to his music; 3) I would hope that fans of his are in turn being introduced to classical music once they've heard Hilary; 4) In both extremes being brought together the 2 personalities get to show a side of themselves not seen elsewhere--His usual sense of humor is evident at both this show and his own, but he doesn't get to play Paganini music at an average Josh Ritter gig, and Hilary gets to show a very quirky, humorous stage persona that is never evident at any recital or symphony hall gig she does.
As far as the music, they mostly keep it to a low boil, but you should have heard "The Thin Blue Flame" at Ravinia--It was an out-of-body experience for me! The Verbier festival clip on YouTube is almost as good, and Hilary kind of held the passion back a bit on the solo at the Met show.
In general, I think they play well together, and she does very similiar stuff with Tom Brosseau (As they did at the gig after the Met gig)-- As Yo Yo Ma and James Taylor showed us even before this, classical instrumentation blends rather well with acoustic pop-rock, and I hope there continues to be even more opportunites and possibilities to come.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted via 172.162.93.108 on April 26, 2008 at 10:25 PM

Pauline, you could get away with that! In fact, it was like just the presence of the guitar had significance. But there existed a whole spectrum from that to the students and students once or twice of the two folks I mentioned.

Arlo is proof that songwriting ability isn't inherited.... One funny thing from him was him saying that all his life he felt like he was fishing downstream from Bob Dylan, songwriting-wise. I don't remember if it was from a song or something else but it was funny. Seems like it was some typical long, funny, meandering thing whatever it was. No idea where or what, but if you google terms long enough you might be able to turn it up.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted via 172.162.93.108 on April 26, 2008 at 10:47 PM

The Steve Earle vid, during his heyday I was busy doing something else, so I don't know much about him. He might be worth looking into further because I see has awards like Lifetime achievement award from the BBC, and in the 2000s, two grammys for best contemporary folk album, latest one this year.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted via 138.88.94.43 on April 28, 2008 at 5:02 AM

Jim, I once heard someone say that Bob Dylan's voice resembled Arlo Guthrie's, but at least Arlo got his naturally.

I agree with the people who said that this video and the one with a Paganini piece give both players a chance to shine outside the realm they're known for. In addition, it might awaken a liking of classical music in people who've never listened to it before. Personally, I believe in the seamless garment theory of music.

From Bernadette Hawes
Posted via 83.7.211.9 on April 29, 2008 at 8:17 PM

Pauline,
Thank you so much for posting this. It is so much the type of inspiration/teaching I'm looking for, for playing as background to church worship. There is no written music, it's a case of work-it-out-for-yourself and go with the flow. Since I've little experience, I'm sometimes stumped. I listened to this a couple of times to clue in on how to 'embroider' particularly tunes where there may be pauses, ie a note held for a longer time or a 'sentence' all sung on one note.
I'm still learning about chords and their relationship to one another, but it's fun when it begins to come together.

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