The Week in Reviews, Op. 505: James Ehnes; Dover Quartet; Hilary Hahn

June 17, 2025, 9:13 PM · 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. Click on the highlighted links to read the entire reviews.

Violinist James Ehnes. Photo by Benjamin Ealovega.

James Ehnes performed the world premiere of James Newton Howard’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the National Symphony Orchestra and James Gaffigan.

Washington Classical Review: "The greatest success came in the slow movement, with Ehnes’ low-set solo sounding over gloomy cellos, moving later into the high range for Ehnes to round out an ardent, tragic aria."

The Dover Quartet performed a concert at at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival.

Boston Musical Intelligencer: "But the foursome’s exquisite performances of Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Brahms were only part of the story at Shalin Liu Center on Sunday. Personnel matters generated equal interest.... The concert took on extra poignancy as one of the group’s last appearances (as a renowned full-time quartet) before Julienne Lee would take up the violin again, at Tanglewood, and just before Joel Link became a concertmaster of (the Cleveland Orchestra)."

Hilary Hahn performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Seattle Symphony and Xian Zhang.

Seattle Times: "She has a glorious, richly expressive and pliant tone that seems to float effortlessly out of the violin and into the air, sometimes with an almost piercing sweetness and purity. Hahn’s intonation is impeccable; every note is hit dead-center. Her technique is so fluent, so nimble, that she is able to make even the trickiest and most convoluted passages sound easy. "

Stephen Waarts performed Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major Op. 77 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla.

Arcana: "Brahms’s Violin Concerto...certainly received a most impressive reading by Stephen Waarts.....there was no lack of rapport – not least an imposing first movement whose technical challenges were assuredly negotiated and with a rendering of the Joachim cadenza that integrated it seamlessly into the overall design."

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