The Week in Reviews, Op. 432: Hilary Hahn, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Chloe Hanslip
In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world.
Violinist Hilary Hahn, performing with the New York Philharmonic and conductor Jakub Hrusa. Photo by Chris Lee.
Hilary Hahn performed Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic at a concert after which she was also awarded the Avery Fisher Prize.
- New York Times: "Her account of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto exemplified the golden-age richness and astonishing technique that have long made her a standout in a crowded field. She handles her instrument like a great soprano handles her voice, with muscular lyricism and a luminously penetrating sound capable of reaching the farthest seats at a whisper."
- New York Classical Review: "She delivered handsomely—fast or humorous when called for, but always with an eye on the concerto’s essentially lyrical spirit."
Anne-Sophie Mutter performed the U.K. premiere of John Williams' Violin Concerto No. 2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
- The Guardian: "Played by violinist extraordinaire Anne-Sophie Mutter (for whom it was written), the concerto was compelling enough – but with her astonishing technical control and absolute musical drive, Mutter could, I suspect, make pretty much anything sound irresistible."
Chloë Hanslip performed in recital with pianist Danny Driver at Wigmore Hall in London.
- iNews: "(Stravinsky’s Divertimento from "The Fairy's Kiss") was a brilliant, wayward, multi-coloured piece which Hanslip and Driver – a long-established duo – delivered brilliantly, right down to the irresistibly jazzy finale."
- The Guardian: "They negotiated the unsettling ambiguities of the first movement (of the Ravel Sonata) with graceful ease, Hanslip making the most of the cantabile moments, her tone effortlessly strong and sweet."
The Los Angeles Philharmonic performed Mahler's Symphony No. 6 with conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
- Violinist.com: "Gustavo Dudamel led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a stunning, sold-out performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6 - the "Tragic Symphony" at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Moving through the joy and bluster, the heartache and redemption in this symphony, with one man wielding the power of 100 musicians - it had the epic feel of a milestone concert."
The Calder Quartet performed music of Beethoven, Shaw, Adès and Debussy at Northwestern University's Winter Chamber Music Festival in Evanston.
- Chicago Classical Review: "It was good to have the Los Angeles-based Calder ensemble back on the festival roster, in top form technically and musically, presenting a stylistically wide-ranging agenda that reflected a deep commitment to contemporary works....Calder played with absolute technical precision and a musical conviction that made you hold your breath for fear of missing anything."
The Dover Quartet performed music of Price, Shostakovich and Schubert at Northwestern University's Winter Chamber Music Festival in Evanston.
- Chicago Classical Review: "...the Dover Quartet delivered a remarkable performance, one of the finest chamber events heard in recent years...The Dover musician brought complete sympathy to Price’s 1929 quartet, their blend of burnished warmth and acute focus bringing out the relaxed lyricism of the first movement while skirting excess sentiment. "
Pinchas Zukerman performed Tchaikovsky’s Sérénade Mélancolique and Mélodie and Mozart's Concerto No. 3 with the Palm Beach Symphony.
- South Florida Classical Review: "He opened with Tchaikovsky’s Sérénade Mélancolique, drawing a rich tone from the violin’s lowest string over a glowing accompaniment from the orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz."
Augustin Hadelich performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony.
- NJ.com: "As with his previous appearances, the much-awarded virtuoso wowed the audience with his dexterous, fluid fiddle technique. His encore, a fun riff on the 'Wild Fiddler’s Rag,' showed how he can shrewdly connect music as diverse as baroque, European gavottes and American Grand Ol’ Opry tunes."
Shuxiang Yang performed in recital with pianist Esther Ning Yau at Music at the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, MA.
- Boston Musical Intelligencer: "Yang’s expressive playing, mirrored with fine balance by Yau, did justice to (Strauss’s Sonata for violin and piano)."
Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can!
You might also like:
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 431: Francesca Dego, Augustin Hadelich, Balourdet Quartet
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 430: Benjamin Beilman, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Akiko Suwanai
- The Week in Reviews, Op. 429: Hilary Hahn, Johan Dalene, Christian Tetzlaff
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Replies
Thanks for clicking through and reading the reviews, Elisabeth! I believe it is important to encourage and celebrate arts journalism, as it gives us all a starting point for conversation and helps bring these performances and projects to the attention of a wider audience.
Elizabeth, you write "JH Only Peer, Nathan Milstein". I assume you are adopting JH's opinion and putting Kreisler above the two of them? Though if you took FK's opinion, I think it would be Heifetz that would have the top notch, and he might not dispute NM being up there too. ME, of course, would not be considered to be in the running!
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January 17, 2024 at 09:26 PM · Re ~ Violinist Concert Reviews by Editor, Violinist.com, Laurie Niles ... {#1}
As from ~ Elisabeth Matesky, Carrier of the Heifetz-Milstein Violin Playing/Mentoring Legacy ~
I do know writing a Violin Review is taxing and especially for fellow Violinists! It requires distancing a bit from those known artists and in very well known & having performed Concert Violin Literature &
applaud Laurie Niles' in there being no question in her presenting Reviews of both Hilary Hahn, aka, Prokofiev's 1st Violin Concerto in D Major, as heard by the New York Philharmonic and emerging brilliant conductor, Jacob Hrusa ... I would refer any who might visit Mid-Week Violinist.com, to listen & intensely to the Epic Recording on EMI Vinyl of either the late 1950s or mid '60s of Nathan Milstein & Conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini w/ Philharmonia of London, in what can only be tried to describe as an "Outer Galaxy" offering of Prokofiev's #1 very 'Mozartian' yet in the earlier Twentieth Century Concerto for Violin and Orchestra!!! Even my first Iconic Violin Mentor, Jascha Heifetz, deferred recording Prokofiev #1 due to his reverence for his Friend, my 2nd Private Violin Mentor of 3.5 Years in London, JH Only Peer, Nathan Milstein, whom JH felt 'owned' Prokofiev #1! I have it on Best Told-
to-me-Authority by Mr. Heifetz, & know in the case of The Sibelius Violin Concerto, Nathan Milstein, returned the Favour, and going to great trouble to explain the Why to 'me-self'!!! {This goes into my 'In Process' being written Book!}
The reason to make mention of the most invigorating and unique recording of Prokofiev Violin Concerto #1 in D Major, is to give those unfamiliar with this Epic Work of Prokofiev, for whom and truly, I quote Mr. Milstein, 'had genius in his more youthful earlier composition ... later to ... ' and unable to finish the NM quote here for it is still being considered whether to directly quote my Mentor, of 24 Years duration, Nathan Milstein's words about Prokofiev to me for privacy considerations ... All Said, it is a Marvel to hear and take ideas from regarding the mastery of Prokofiev's Ideal Composition and rare special effect techniques heard in this remarkable collaborative effort of Milstein, his close personal friend, Carlo Maria Giulini, and very stellar Philharmonia Orchestra in this 'Once in a Century' Recording which I wish and hopefully suggest Violinist.com, would feature or perhaps post my first Blog on this international string website about!!??
Again, there is no question about the importance of LN's Review of Anne-Sophie Mutter's performance of the John Williams' Violin Concerto and the Dedicatee of his Violin Concerto I do believe composed for his most admired Violinist on The Planet Earth!!! And No Wonder as Ms. Mutter has graced John Williams' Star Wars' Harry Potter themed Scores & in so doing, has popularized her Theme adapted for Solo Violin alla Anne-Sophie Mutter, for children & all Fans of the Harry Potter Film!!! This collaboration has even wrought a Hollywood Star on the fabled Hollywood Walk of Fame only a year or 3 ago with an Anne Sophie Mutter "Star" on there! And, dear Violinist's, to Qualify: No classical Concert Artist, excepting Jascha Heifetz, has been so honoured and so deserving due utter Greatness in the classical Violin Concert Violin Concerto repertoire First!!!! Being able to traverse the Great & genuinely so Demanding Violin Concerto literature then on to a more 'easy'and more popular thematic material as composed by famed Hollywood Composers, and recognised widely by their also revered by Classical Global Music Community, is rare and in both artist's career's, are more than deserved, IMO!!!
As to Dudamel's Mahler Sixth, it is well documented Top Gustavo Dudamel is a Master of Mahler and of his achingly beautiful gloried melodic themes especially in Mahler Five and other Mahler of his fabled Nine Symphonies ... Surely the Los Angeles Philharmonic will greatly miss Gustavo Dudamel's presence on the Podium once he departs for the New York Philharmonic in I believe, Anno 2026 ~ {And surely to return as a Former Music Director Guest Conductor of the LA Philharmonic, and on to even more as yet unrevealed Globally Fabled Symphony Orchestras in parts further !} Not a 'sooth sayer', one does have a feel for the pulse of our Time & sense my inkling might turn out to be on target!! {And Not the Department Store, Target!}
To offer the Strauss Sonata for Violin and Piano is both Bold plus Daring and requires an Ultimate Mastery of most difficult aspects of Violin Artistry Technique, so one is a bit cautious in responding to the young artist, and unknown to myself at this time by the, I presume, young Violinist, Shuxiang Yang and her pianist partner, Ester Ning Yau, and would without hearing them, offer an RX to hear my Mentor, Jascha Heifetz's, recording of this very difficult and Epic Work for Violin and Piano of Strauss, which, btw, caused an outrage when JH offered this *what he considered to be a very important work, in a Country faraway from US Shores and injured while staying in The King David Hotel for his Tour of All Israel and Long Ago ... Most & Importantly, The GOAT Violinist, recovered from his injury by a Crazed Person, yet it and later on caused JH some troubles to be resolved by surgery on and in his Jascha Heifetz Unparalelled Concert Career ... I think it might have been listened to and studied by both young artists, unknown to me, and if so, they may well have taken much from the Heifetz Recording of I think, the 1950s or even later 1940s?? Unsure of the date, YT is always a place to learn of rare recordings and surely of Jascha Heifetz!!!! A Word: Oddly, when studying with JH, and in his Original Jascha Heifetz Violin Master Class, at USC's Institute for Special Music Studies, then all subsequently filmed by Nathan Kroll. and of all 7 of us, Mr. Heifetz did Not once mention the Work of Strauss for Violin and Piano for any of us to study or perform??? Actually, as a very sensitive violin mentor, JH was most considerate of each of us not Ordering us to learn a specific work He liked, yet rather left these choices to each of we 7 which fully revealed his confidence in us and in himself selecting his JH VMC Original Seven ~ I'd never really thought of this until now & A Look Back on the Mentoring of utterly Brilliant and Kind, Jascha Heifetz!
Thanking Laurie Niles for such a Bouquet of Violinist Reviews and goings on, I send Happy and Healthy Violinist New Year 2024 Greetings to All on Violinist.com from Chicago!!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Elisabeth Matesky ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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