Last night (Thursday, April 20, 2006) Hilary Hahn performed the second concert of her debut with the National Arts Center (NAC) Orchestra. She was in town to perform the Glazunov Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82 along-side conductor Arild Remmereit also making his NAC debut (filling in for Pinchas Zukerman who is currently on leave). The orchestra seemed quite comfortable with Remmereit at the helm despite this being their second performance together. Southam Hall certainly wasn’t a full house but there was a good crowd on hand.

The Glazunov concerto is quite a demanding work for the soloist and while rarely included in the repertoire of many orchestras of late this performance was a pleasure. In all I am finding it difficult to classify Ms. Hahn’s interpretation of the work given the relative lack of reference points I have, though I would say that she took a rather conservative approach. Given the nature of this work on this night her approach was dead on.

There is something about her 1864 Vuillaume violin that produces what I find to be the most pleasing sound of any violin I have every heard in person. Its pure warm tone is truly amazing and holds perfectly into the higher registers of the instrument. That said, if there was anything lacking about the performance it was the presence of a more-pronounced-than-usual difference in the sound quality of the soloist’s violin to that of the string section.

The work was played straight through without a pause as expected. The moderato first movement was rhapsodic with both the orchestra and Ms. Hahn in perfect alignment. Remmereit was in solid control and maintained the orchestra at a complementary volume throughout. I love the romanticism of this piece and I found the associated lyricism conveyed in this performance to be quite moving - something that was enhanced by Hahn’s graceful movements. In this light I was struck with the way, during her breaks, she looked around at each section of the orchestra as they were highlighted in the score seemingly enjoying the music, and then resumed her playing quickly and with flawless timing.

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On May 2 at 10PM, the Emmy Award winning PBS series INDEPENDENT LENS will air the television premiere of Daniel Anker’s critically acclaimed, joyous, and inspiring documentary, MUSIC FROM THE INSIDE OUT
The intersection of art and life are at the core of MUSIC FROM THE INSIDE OUT, a musical journey featuring the 105 musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra. The film focuses on the mystery and magic of music itself, creating a mosaic of the stories, ideas and experiences that form the heart of these musicians lives inside and outside the concert hall.

This should be interesting!

[From: PBS. Thanks Mary]