Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 Hilary Hahn (FULL)

[@jackiewang3769]

KZbin, Please don't give me ads in the middle of a fricking concerto.

[@PeterPan-iz1kk]

You need to get Adblock Plus for Mozilla Firefox. It's all free.

[@illogicmath]

Get KZbin premium, it's not expensive and it's freaking awesome

[@Theodore1999]

Please don’t use ad block

[@shohamdas7741]

@@Theodore1999 why?

[@amitailavi9512]

@@PeterPan-iz1kk Firefox??

[@palladin331]

I had the pleasure of playing in the orchestra in upstate NY when she performed this piece publicly for the first time in 2003. She very modestly 'warned' us of that. But her performance was as you hear it here in this recording: absolutely flawless both in rehearsal and concert. Plus she was gracious and fun to talk to, which is also evident in her artistry.

[@erminejose4188]

Wow, thanks for sharing ;)

[@victorycoffee92]

lucky

[@JaxonBurn]

She might be the best person that exists.

[@palladin331]

@Susej Christ violin

[@jeffreyfunke8866]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I envy you for having the honor of playing with her. My father was a classical pianist. I grew up listening to classical music, but never had any talent. Ironically my nephew is an exceptional guitar player. My father used to joke that talent skips a generation, sometimes. Oh,. what i would give to have that talent.

[@KimieNg17]

Hilary Hahn, I love the control in her play. She plays without giving exaggerated looks and affected face when playing. Just like Heifetz, minimal movements, great sounds.

[@Pitborn]

+Kimie Ng ... and fully concentrated. People don't understand which world of sensitiveness may be behind this minimality of movements and facial expressions. Instead of waiting for the happy smile and the dance on stage they should open their ears. They would be overwhelmed and in tears if they really let a giant like Heifetz in. Don't judge in the first place, try to overcome the human distance between the artist and yourself. We may, of course, ask how does he/she accomplish that. But if she/he really "got" you, you won't find the answer in analyzing his/her umbelievable technique.

[@wambui37]

+Kimie Ng - there are still some, who hear this and also feel. I'm one of them :) Hilary Hahn reminds me of Heifetz, whom I greatly admire

[@wambui37]

+Pitborn - there are still some, who hear this and also feel. I'm one of them :) Hilary Hahn reminds me of Heifetz, whom I greatly admire

[@leona4701]

Hilary Hahn is an excellent violinist no doubt but Heifetz is and was the god of violinists. Great accomplishment to be compared to him. Bravo!

[@JeanDeLaCroix_]

Leona she's young

[@huntrichardson]

First time I heard this was on my car radio (8 Bose speakers). I was about to leave a parking spot. I turned off the ignition and sat stunned for more than 30m. I was moved to tears by the sublime, brilliant music coming out of the speakers. I still love it. Hilary is incredible

[@joycehalee6312]

Same thing happened to me today.

[@maxhax1000]

nice car :)

[@jeravincer]

agreed ... Bose is amazing ...

[@Jasper_4444]

It wasn't a paid parking spot I assume?

[@canticle56]

She’s amazing.

[@rowanjones1435]

We often remember Paganini as a flawless player and a highly gifted musician that wrote some of the most difficult repertoire, and although his work is often criticized for being pieces that don't go anywhere and are only for showing off, I think this concerto is concrete proof of his musical genius.

[@maximustermann8022]

Sometimes his music reminds me of Verdi...

[@maxverstappennonofficial]

Paganini , in his great talent , becomes recognized not because of the ultra duper complicatly technical pieces , but for what heavenly sounds he was able to make out from his violin.

[@sergejvasiljevitsjrachmani2808]

I don't think this is the piece to show his musical genius, it's still pretty 'show off - like'. His sonatas for guitar and violin are the ones that are really beautiful. And also a lot of other stuff of course

[@the_great_phoenix231]

@@estolee5485 the HEAT

[@poppyorangeflower]

"His work is often criticized for being pieces that don't go anywhere and are only for showing off"... for some reason that made me LOL.

[@jason101other]

I'm a huge violin devotee, and seriously, without a doubt Hahn is the greatest violinist today. And I LOVE the tight, clean, resonant, bright sound of her Vuillaume violin. Kudos to her that she has the vision to pick-- and stay-- with a violin that fits her decided sound over so many top concert violinists who think they must have a Strad or Del Gesu. This violin is so unique and stunning.

[@HectorGonzalez-jv6ro]

What is a Del Gesu without soul playing?

[@Ethan-rw7ub]

Her Vuillaume is immensely powerful when hitting high notes! Or maybe it's just her hahaha

[@villesarkilahti4975]

Strad and del gesu have more powerful, warm and resonant lower tones. I can understand why some people prefer clarity and intonation over literally anything else, but it's certainly not an exciting way of playing.

[@lloydaran]

I think hers in particular is actually a replica by Vuillaume of Paganini's Cannone del Gesù. Quite fitting, I would say.

[@tobelieve627]

I think Paganini really fits her style.

[@alexisforbes1808]

16:51 There was not a single note out of tune 🤯. She didn’t have to “fake” anything either. Every note was CLEAR!!

[@chuckcornelius194]

she's obsessed with absolute perfection, and she has the talent to do it, greater than any fiddler alive, but sometimes, i'd rather hear her push it to the edge. Paganini was the ultimate showman, he was all about blowing your socks off. i'd like to hear Hilary play Paganini right on the outer edge of her ability, go crazy, even miss a note, make a scratch. she plays this too much like Beethoven or Mozart. and i've heard her play this live in person, and it's exactly like this recording.

[@tsuukkii]

@@chuckcornelius194 his favourite composers bach i think

[@neerajchandekar9250]

That's not the only thing that matters

[@alexisforbes1808]

@@neerajchandekar9250 never said it was lol

[@veramayer9571]

@@chuckcornelius194 maybe this simply is not on the outer edge of her ability... would you have her make mistakes just for the sake of it? Maybe other composers push her more to the edge. I'm not a violinist, I have only recently started digging deeper into her recordings (or even just scratching the surface, to be honest), so that's just a theory - or wild guess, even. I'm also not sure what I think of taking liberties with the existing score just to prove your virtuosity. I suppose my thoughts on that are that she *could* write a cadenza with all the fireworks and go to town with that, were she so inclined. Otherwise, if we want to see imperfection from her, we can always look at rehearsal footage.

[@Halland197]

OMG the clarity intonation and skill of this woman never ceases to amaze me. NO 1 Hahn Fan here. what a gift to the violin she is!

[@oldvlc]

She is for me the top performing violinist today. She has been called "The Ice Princess," but just because she does not give the audience histrionics that are so prevalent today is no reason for this comment. She is in the mold of Heifetz actually...he stood like a rock when he played, spinning the most incredible stuff imaginable. So I rather think she is one of a kind today, totally immersed in what she is doing instead of emoting all over the place.

[@stephenmessick6619]

oldvlc I agree with you that she is very much like Heifetz. Her fiddle is a magnificent, priceless work of art. She gets the most out of it also.

[@stephenmessick6619]

oldvlc Very Heifetz-like. Which, of course, speaks volumes.

[@michaeltroke7239]

Yes, she's like Jascha Heifetz in a sense; purity of tone, line, don't know what. But *not* like Heifetz in another sense: she just plays the music. Heifetz occasionally let himself get carried away by his virtuosity (for example, his recording of the Schubert quintet in C), but not Hillary. And in fact, ... I think that her way of "just playing the music" is what is most emotionally moving.

[@mariodisarli1022]

Yes, she's "sex sells"!!! ALEXANDER BOOT Author, critic, polemicist Blogs > Alexander's blog > Submitted by Alexander on 24 June 2013 - 12:59pm The other day I listened to something or other on KZbin, and a link to Chopin’s Fourth Ballade performed by the Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili came up. The link was accompanied by a close-up publicity photo of the musician: sloe bedroom eyes, sensual semi-open lips suggesting a delight that’s still illegal in Alabama, naked shoulders hinting at the similarly nude rest of her body regrettably out of shot… Let me see where my wife is… Good, she isn’t looking over my shoulder, so I can admit to you that the picture got me excited in ways one doesn’t normally associate with Chopin’s Fourth Ballade or for that matter any other classical composition this side of Wagner or perhaps Ravel’s Bolero. Searching for a more traditional musical rapture I clicked on the actual clip and alas found it anticlimactic, as it were. Khatia’s playing, though competent, is as undeniably so-what as her voluptuous figure undeniably isn’t. (Yes, I know the photograph I mentioned doesn’t show much of her figure apart from the luscious shoulders but, the prurient side of my nature piqued, I did a bit of a web crawl.) Just for the hell of it I looked at the publicity shots of other currently active female musicians, such as Yuja Wang, Joanna MacGregor, Nicola Bendetti, Alison Balsom (nicknamed ‘crumpet with a trumpet’, her promos more often suggest ‘a strumpet with a trumpet’ instead), Anne-Sophie Mutter and a few others. They didn’t disappoint the Peeping Tom lurking under my aging surface. Just about all the photographs showed the ladies in various stages of undress, in bed, lying in suggestive poses on top of the piano, playing in frocks (if any) open to the coccyx in the back and/or to the navel up front. This is one thing these musicians have in common. The other is that none of them is all that good at her day job and some, such as Wang, are truly awful. Yet this doesn’t really matter either to them or to the public or, most important, to those who form the public tastes by writing about music and musicians. Thus, for example, a tabloid pundit expressing his heartfelt regret that Nicola Benedetti “won’t be posing for the lads’ mags anytime soon. Pity, because she looks fit as a fiddle…” Geddit? She’s a violinist, which is to say fiddler - well, you do get it. “But Nicola doesn’t always take the bonniest photo,” continues the writer, “she’s beaky in pics sometimes, which is weird because in the flesh she’s an absolute knock-out. “The classical musician is wearing skinny jeans which show off her long legs. She’s also busty with a washboard flat tummy, tottering around 5ft 10in in her Dune platform wedges.” How well does she play the violin though? No one cares. Not even critics writing for our broadsheets, who don’t mind talking about musicians in terms normally reserved for pole dancers. Thus for instance runs a review of a piano recital at Queen Elizabeth Hall, one of London’s top concert venues: “She is the most photogenic of players: young, pretty, bare-footed; and, with her long dark hair and exquisite strapless dress of dazzling white, not only seemed to imply that sexuality itself can make you a profound musician, but was a perfect visual complement to the sleek monochrome of a concert grand... [but] there’s more to her than meets the eye.” The male reader is clearly expected to get a stiffie trying to imagine what that might be. To help his imagination along, the piece is accompanied by a photo of the young lady in question reclining on her instrument in a pre-coital position with an unmistakable ‘come and get it’ expression on her face. The ‘monochrome’ piano is actually bright-red, a colour usually found not in concert halls but in dens of iniquity. Nowhere does the review mention the fact obvious to anyone with any taste for musical performance: the girl is so bad that she should indeed be playing in a brothel, rather than on the concert platform. Can you, in the wildest flight of fancy, imagine a reviewer talking in such terms about sublime women artists of the past, such as Myra Hess, Maria Yudina, Maria Grinberg, Clara Haskil, Marcelle Meyer, Marguerite Long, Kathleen Ferrier? Can you see any of them allowing themselves to be photographed in the style of “lads’ mags”? I can’t, which raises the inevitable question: what exactly has changed in the last say 70 years? The short answer is, just about everything. Concert organisers and impresarios, who used to be in the business because they loved music first and wanted to make a living second, now care about nothing but money. Critics, who used to have discernment and taste, now have nothing but greed and lust for popularity. The public… well, don’t get me started on that. The circle is vicious: because tasteless ignoramuses use every available medium to build up musical nonentities, nonentities is all we get. And because the musical nonentities have no artistic qualities to write about, the writing nonentities have to concentrate on the more jutting attractions, using a vocabulary typically found in “lads’ mags”. The adage “sex sells” used to be applied first to B-movies, then to B-novels, and now to real music. From “sex sells” it’s but a short distance to “only sex sells”. This distance has already been travelled - and we are all being sold short.

[@brody1092]

Guys, guys this is a photo with music to it. I bet she moves more on video.

[@JJC333]

1st movement cadenza begins at 16:51 and ends at 20:58 3rd movement cadenza begins at 36:54 and ends at 37:08

[@violintegral]

Thank you!!

[@sammeo]

Wow so many thanks

[@andresguillermoalvarezlope418]

Did she play a cadenza already out there or did she play her own?? I Wonder that... I'm à pianist and do not know about violin so I m still lost there haha can u help me?

[@sebpro8421]

@@andresguillermoalvarezlope418 It is the Emile Sauret's cadenza there. Wich is insanely difficult by the way...

[@robotnik77]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXfGlICgqt9qn5I and kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHTZg5etopeAlbM and then there's Vengerov's - it seems everyone plays a 'variation' of the Sauret, either adding, or taking away from it. It's a cadenza; they can do their own schtick. Some play certain passages staccato, or the same passage in legato. Kogan's sounds the best to me, while Ricci has the most amazing flying staccato. Hers to me, sounds perfect in a certain sense - that rather than 'hitting' it, going for broke, she's very 'controlled' trying not to make a mistake. I prefer a player that goes after it; it's worth the risk.

[@FranciscoCunha2004]

15:14 Her thirds are so perfect it’s almost like it’s just one note

[@claudineneveah2738]

hilary: plays one note twoset: "SHES SUCH A GODDESS OMG SHE SOUNDS SO GOOD SKSKSKSK"

[@JackLe1127]

What makes the SKSKSKSK sounds?

[@thatsEforEveryone]

@@JackLe1127 ur mouth xD

[@redicendia1355]

screw off stupid vsco

[@_____c___482]

Adelmo Gimenez when you come on an alt account just to like ur own comment a second time xD

[@rlilac643]

Make that an open A

[@johnhunter3455]

The top is wide, and really filled with wonderful players, who have their own voice when playing.The standards of technical proficiency have been raised since Hiefetz, Rabin, Perlman, and now by players like H. Hahn, Sarah Chang, and Alexander Markov. Because of the excellence across the board, it's difficult to find one who represents the apex above all others, and , in my opinion, is a waste of time. This is a wonderful time to be a musician, or one who loves the violin.Such a wonderful buffet of treats, different flavors and colors to enjoy.

[@PikaChu-vv9hj]

+Vera Evans wtf ?

[@veraevans6387]

***** You heard me. Hilary Hahn is good but close your eyes and listen.

[@mariodisarli1022]

+Vera Evans BERLIN Berliner Zeitung 12.08.2006 von Wolfgang Fuhrmann "Ein neuer Typus hält Einzug ins Klassik - Gewerbe: junge Musiker mit verstärktem Niedlichkeitsfaktor" .... "Die Vermarktungsmethoden, mit denen die Klassikfirmen heute aus ihrer Talsohle herauszukommen versuchen, orientieren sich offener an den glänzenden Oberflächen des Mainstream-Popgeschäfts. Dabei geht es nicht so sehr um den Sex-Sells-Faktor, wie er etwa bei Anna Netrebko eingesetzt wird, wenn deren schwarze Mähne so wild ums Haupt fliegt, dass man förmlich den Praktikanten in den Kulissen mit dem Hochleistungsventilator hantieren sieht. Die neue Strategie der Plattenvermarktung setzt vielmehr auf das Prinzip Schnuckelklassik: eher Knuffigkeitsfaktor als Erotik (was ja auch immer etwas mit Distanz zu tun hat), eher Kylie Minogue und Britney Spears als Christina Aguileira oder Madonna. Noch ist Schnuckelklassik kein Begriff - Google kennt keine Einträge. Aber wir werden um das Wort nicht herumkommen, um diese Marketing-Strategie zu beschreiben. Stars müssen nicht nur so jung sein wie das ersehnte Zielpublikum, sie müssen auch so niedlich und knuddelig wirken, dass man sie am liebsten als Stofftiere mit ins Bett nehmen würde. Dafür dürfen sie auch ruhig Beethoven oder Bartók spielen - und tun es in den meisten Fällen nicht einmal schlecht. Der Glaube, klassische Musiker müssten sich mit Crossover-Projekten für die Pophörer profilieren, ist ein wenig geschwunden. Ruppiger Spätpunker-Charme wie bei Nigel Kennedy und allzu offensive asiatische Sinnlichkeit wie bei Vanessa Mae sind jedenfalls passé. Angestaubt wirken diese beiden Vertreter der 90er-Jahre vor allem auch durch ihre ständigen popmusikalischen Anbiederungen (Elektrogeige und dergleichen). Heute, da der Klassikleiter der Universal Music Group Deutschland, Christian Kellersmann, als Credo verkündet: "Klassik ist die neue Popmusik", hat sich die Beweislast eher umgekehrt, und so wird demnächst Sting ein Album mit Liedern des elisabethanischen Lautenisten John Dowland aufnehmen. Nicht zufällig bei der Deutschen Grammophon (DG), die zu Universal gehört. Und nicht zufällig kommen auch die meisten Schnuckelklassiker bei diesem altehrwürdigen Klassik-Label groß raus. Das ist auch historisch nicht unverständlich. Denn sollte je eine Geschichte der Schnuckelklassik geschrieben werden, würde der Geigerin Anne-Sophie Mutter, Karajan-Zögling und DG-Star, darin gewiss die Rolle der Ahnherrin zukommen - auch wenn sie dem pausbäckigen Wunderkinddasein längst ent- und in die schulterfreie Abendrobe hineingewachsen ist. So ist es nur folgerichtig, dass der Typus des Schnuckelklassikers derzeit in Reinkultur vor allem bei jungen Geigerinnen auftritt. Man denke nur an die Amerikanerin Hilary Hahn, deren immer ein wenig von Jungmädchen-Ernsthaftigkeit geprägtes Antlitz beim Betrachter unwillkürlich den Eindruck entstehen lässt, hier mache sich jemand ganz doll Gedanken über den Zustand der Welt. Im Gespräch kann sie zurückhaltend bis zum Nichtssagenden sein. Tatsächlich aber ist Hahn durchaus - und sehr amerikanisch - offen für allerlei volksnahen Unfug; auf ihrer Internet-Seite findet sich wunderbare "Fan Art"; Selbstgemaltes von Bewunderern (wir empfehlen das lustige Sonnenbild!), außerdem gibt es "Itty Bitty News" (zum Beispiel eine Todesanzeige ihres Meerschweinchens Psyche: "starb am 30. Juli 2004 mit zweieinhalb Jahren an einer rätselhaften Verdauungsstörung") und ein regelmäßig geführtes Reisetagebuch. Die Seite enthält auch Tipps, wie man alleine Zeit in einem Hotelzimmer verbringen kann: zum Beispiel mit "Lesen", "Auf dem Bett auf und ab springen", "Bügeln", "Fernsehen (Filme, ausländische Sendungen, Tierrettungsshows, Sport oder verrückte amerikanische Sendungen, wenn jemand Amerikaner ist und Heimweh hat)", "Alle Möbel umstellen (eine meiner Lieblingsbeschäftigungen)" und so weiter. Außerdem führt Hahn gerne mit Mitmusikern Interviews, wobei immer dieselben Fragen gestellt werden: "Ist Schokolade eine Droge?" - "Lieblingstiere?" - "Was halten Sie von Bach?" - "Schnittblumen?" und so fort. Dass man sie auf ihren Fotos kaum je lachen sieht, ist also erstaunlich; da sie diese Fotos aber selbst auswählt, vielleicht auch erklärbar. Sie sieht sich, wie so manche junge Dame, wohl nicht gern selbst beim Lachen zu. Ein richtiger Wonneproppen hingegen ist Hahns niederländische Kollegin Janine Jansen: Sie strahlt am liebsten von einem Ohr zum anderen. Jansen ist sich auch nicht zu fein, auf ihrer Homepage mit einer Fotogalerie von nicht weniger als fünfzehn Bildern zu prunken, während ihre lettische Konkurrentin Baiba Skride sich gerade mal sechs gestattet. Und wo Skride auf dem Cover zu ihrem Solo-Recital in Jeansanzug vor einem Bretterzaun street credibility einforderte, da sieht man Frau Jansen in abendgerechten Tüll- und Seidenträumen, aber auch im kleinen Schwarzen oder schlichten weißen Hosenanzug. Kurz: eine Frau fürs zarte Geigendiner, wo Skride eher den Typ zum Pferdeausreißen gibt. Die schnuckelklassischste aller Photogalerien aber hat die Berlinerin Caroline Fischer aufzuweisen. Auf ihrer Website präsentiert sich die "Pianistin aus Leidenschaft" auf neunzehn (Rekord!) Bildern in allen Lebenslagen: sinnlich schmollend, verschmust lächelnd, kühn viel nacktes Bein von sich spreizend. Man meint, plötzlich in die Bewerbungsmappe für eine Teenie-Modelagentur geraten zu sein, so ungehemmt trägt Fischer hier ihr Aussehen zu Markte. Und Klavier spielen kann sie auch noch! Die Herren spielen bei der Schnuckelklassik vorläufig noch die zweite Geige. Rolando Villazón, an dessen Charme nichts zu rütteln ist, hat große haarige Raupen statt Augenbrauen, und der junge griechische Geiger Leonidas Kavakos besteht überhaupt nur aus Behaarung. Das mag für Teddybären angehen - die Bedingungen der Schnuckelklassik erfüllt ein freundlicher Klavierknuddel mit lustiger Igelfrisur aber doch besser. Der Mann heißt Lang Lang und hat schon hartgesottene Politik-Redakteurinnen dieser Zeitung in Verzückung versetzt. Und ein ganz heißer Kandidat als erster Schnuckelklassik-Dirigent ist Gustavo Dudamel. Lockenköpfig, liebenswürdig, enthusiastisch wie ein Welpe, laut der Tageszeitung "El Universal" einer der schönsten Menschen Venezuelas - und ein wunderbarer Musiker, der demnächst, so ein Zufall, groß bei der DG rauskommen wird. Herzigkeit sells! Und Klassik ist die neue Schnuckelmusik. ------------------------------ Fotos (5) : Caroline Fischer So entspannt sich die "Pianistin aus Leidenschaft" (siehe www.carolinefischer. com), wenn sie gerade mal nicht in die Tasten greift. Anne-Sophie Mutter Überaus stürmisch geigte die Ahnfrau der Schnuckelklassik schon in jungen Jahren (....). Janine Jansen In französischen Fauteuils ist gut fläzen. Die Geigerin wählt dazu einen duftigen Tüll-und-Seiden-Traum (....). Lang Lang liegt flach im Sand: der chinesische Pianist bei einer Dehnübung. Gleich wird er wieder im Rachmaninow wüten (....). Hilary Hahn Wenn sie mal nicht ihre Geige in Schach halten muss, springt sie gern kontemplativ in Hotelbetten auf und ab (....). Ein neuer Typus hält Einzug ins Klassik-Gewerbe: junge Musiker mit verstärktem Niedlichkeitsfaktor: Schnuckelklassik!!!

[@vicencrp4962]

+Mario DiSarli np

[@vicencrp4962]

magnific

[@ec12384]

This is my favorite interpretation of this concerto. Instead of focusing on the all the technique, she focused on all of the musical aspects of the concerto. This means that you have to nail every single technique in order to do that, and she did! Every note was just so clean!!

[@gsm2424]

Actually this is too soft for Paganini...I mean, its correctly played, but too safe for this style of music, too kindly. And cold, for my taste.

[@asloii_1749]

I like her interpretation but Im glad to see people being brave enough to express their opinions here

[@chriss6356]

@@gsm2424 whenever someone says someone plays something too "safely" all i hear is "they're playing everything in tune and according to the composer's markings, unlike my favorite musician". you don't have to like the interpretation , but the technique is flawless, which is exactly the style of paganini: ultimate technique.

[@Tritone]

(16:51) She makes the Sauret cadenza actually sound like music! Best interpretation I've ever heard.

[@utemaslen4003]

The Rondo was my late husbands favourite movement from this violin concerto, it is so beatiful and played to perfection, it moves me deeply listening to it with the memories i carry.

[@vibhavperi983]

Definitely the 'warmer' side of Paganini. This is true happiness. His other pieces in major, like the Cantabile and d major caprice 20, are very bittersweet

[@JaxonBurn]

That's well observed. Much of his other work in major keys is often ironic or sarcastic sounding-- to me, anyway-- but in this piece I hear genuine joy during the major sections.

[@andrewpenny4984]

And caprice 21

[@MariaJulia-fl9db]

Every time I listen to a Hillary concert, I feel discouraged because I will never play like her But she is great. I adore her! She's perfect!

[@HectorJaskolowski]

En Argentina decimos: "Siento sana envidia" but I don`t know if that really exist.

[@frisimota]

This is the first time i actually cried while listening to Paganini`s 1st.Hillary you are indeed unique. You brought up the sadness as no violinist i heard before did.

[@bobvanderentviolinist4267]

Hilary Hahn is the Heifetz of the 21th Century; a new standard of violin playing.

[@stephenscheissloch818]

LOL

[@AlephThree]

Agree - this is the correct comparator. Sometimes you don’t realise how good people are when they are right in front of you, rather than a mystery of the past.

[@bejited6932]

@@stephenscheissloch818 what

[@JeanDeLaCroix_]

@@AlephThree i would have said milstein 🤔

[@vt4979]

@@stephenscheissloch818 ?

[@shin-i-chikozima]

Hilary‘s performance is something Incredible, and Incredible beauty, and Incredible comfort, and Incredible feelings

[@fredsharp7419]

What a refreshing performance! So clean! Every note is audible - and the harmonics in the third movement are a miracle of precision. This is fast becoming my favourite version of this work.

[@jameskliewer5809]

That First Movement cadenza is absolutely mind-blowing!

[@worksasintended4997]

As always a great show of her possibilities. Just one little critic on the description: It misses the orchestra and conductor, both very important. I think they should be aknowledged too : Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Eiji Oue

[@brendanmccann935]

Her playing is so fantastic,I could listen to her forever,

[@zuzannawisniewska4464]

How can someone dislike this? Hilary Hahn is incredible....

[@sappclobyt1331]

12:02 Best moment

[@sappclobyt1331]

A year later…wow

[@yanray-]

Agree tho 👆

[@YalcinEren]

This is most beautiful interpretation of this piece of art. So clean and so harmonic, you can't believe it's a Paganini piece. Stop talking about, there is no better version than this. People trying to show their violin skills using Paganini pieces but they can never make it naturally beautiful like this. Thanks Hilary Hann.

[@villesarkilahti4975]

I hate it, her pace varies every 5 seconds and the dynamics and roughness are non existing. I can't get a rush listening to this.

[@YalcinEren]

@@villesarkilahti4975 You're partly right. But i like the way she changing speed, dynamics and adding smoothness. All of this with her amazing integrity, makes her reach a really successful also wholesomely beautiful interpretation.

[@villesarkilahti4975]

7:10 - 7:22 plays the harmonics ridiculously slow

[@Killerbee4712]

@@villesarkilahti4975 They seem quite quick for a bunch of quick paced double stops on a violin...

[@Killerbee4712]

@@villesarkilahti4975 Because its Kavakos. No one beats Kavakos

[@saltyheathen8113]

I could listen to her play the rest of my life and never get bored.

[@sergiocontreras3447]

But she had told us long time ago that playing Paganini was tricky for her because Paganini had very flexible and long fingers and that while she had flexible fingers, hers were not as long as those of Paganini. And here you have her playing...Paganini. Terrific interpretation.

[@peteroh9319]

Hillary Hahn is truly a marvelous violinist.

[@luciferlyset7543]

Indeed

[@FranklinPUroda]

I was doing laundry, and this piece came through the classical music cable channel. Haven't heard it in decades. I was pleased, and the early memories of childhood-school-were heartwarming. Stayed with me all day.

[@Braybaroque]

Heard it on the radio. Comparison with other famous performances: I had the historical recording of Francescatti which was top for its time but it pales by comparison with present-day standards, I have Perlman who is technically perfect but IMHO lacks punch, others I have heard play it too fast and inevitably lack accuracy although arguably this is how Paganini played it. For my taste, this is a masterwork of composition (Rossini was present at the premiere and was reported to weep in the slow movement), and playing at a reasonable speed, Hahn allows us to hear every single detail played with impressive accuracy and charm. I am going to buy this CD right now.

[@lakerenciaindocil]

I definitely agree

[@rowanrobinson]

And that is why music is awesome. I LOVE heavy metal, but I can't ignore its roots in classical music. Paganini is one of the greatest of all time by far.

[@georgescancan7503]

BERLIN Berliner Zeitung 12.08.2006 von Wolfgang Fuhrmann "Ein neuer Typus hält Einzug ins Klassik - Gewerbe: junge Musiker mit verstärktem Niedlichkeitsfaktor" .... "Die Vermarktungsmethoden, mit denen die Klassikfirmen heute aus ihrer Talsohle herauszukommen versuchen, orientieren sich offener an den glänzenden Oberflächen des Mainstream-Popgeschäfts. Dabei geht es nicht so sehr um den Sex-Sells-Faktor, wie er etwa bei Anna Netrebko eingesetzt wird, wenn deren schwarze Mähne so wild ums Haupt fliegt, dass man förmlich den Praktikanten in den Kulissen mit dem Hochleistungsventilator hantieren sieht. Die neue Strategie der Plattenvermarktung setzt vielmehr auf das Prinzip Schnuckelklassik: eher Knuffigkeitsfaktor als Erotik (was ja auch immer etwas mit Distanz zu tun hat), eher Kylie Minogue und Britney Spears als Christina Aguileira oder Madonna. Noch ist Schnuckelklassik kein Begriff - Google kennt keine Einträge. Aber wir werden um das Wort nicht herumkommen, um diese Marketing-Strategie zu beschreiben. Stars müssen nicht nur so jung sein wie das ersehnte Zielpublikum, sie müssen auch so niedlich und knuddelig wirken, dass man sie am liebsten als Stofftiere mit ins Bett nehmen würde. Dafür dürfen sie auch ruhig Beethoven oder Bartók spielen - und tun es in den meisten Fällen nicht einmal schlecht. Der Glaube, klassische Musiker müssten sich mit Crossover-Projekten für die Pophörer profilieren, ist ein wenig geschwunden. Ruppiger Spätpunker-Charme wie bei Nigel Kennedy und allzu offensive asiatische Sinnlichkeit wie bei Vanessa Mae sind jedenfalls passé. Angestaubt wirken diese beiden Vertreter der 90er-Jahre vor allem auch durch ihre ständigen popmusikalischen Anbiederungen (Elektrogeige und dergleichen). Heute, da der Klassikleiter der Universal Music Group Deutschland, Christian Kellersmann, als Credo verkündet: "Klassik ist die neue Popmusik", hat sich die Beweislast eher umgekehrt, und so wird demnächst Sting ein Album mit Liedern des elisabethanischen Lautenisten John Dowland aufnehmen. Nicht zufällig bei der Deutschen Grammophon (DG), die zu Universal gehört. Und nicht zufällig kommen auch die meisten Schnuckelklassiker bei diesem altehrwürdigen Klassik-Label groß raus. Das ist auch historisch nicht unverständlich. Denn sollte je eine Geschichte der Schnuckelklassik geschrieben werden, würde der Geigerin Anne-Sophie Mutter, Karajan-Zögling und DG-Star, darin gewiss die Rolle der Ahnherrin zukommen - auch wenn sie dem pausbäckigen Wunderkinddasein längst ent- und in die schulterfreie Abendrobe hineingewachsen ist. So ist es nur folgerichtig, dass der Typus des Schnuckelklassikers derzeit in Reinkultur vor allem bei jungen Geigerinnen auftritt. Man denke nur an die Amerikanerin Hilary Hahn, deren immer ein wenig von Jungmädchen-Ernsthaftigkeit geprägtes Antlitz beim Betrachter unwillkürlich den Eindruck entstehen lässt, hier mache sich jemand ganz doll Gedanken über den Zustand der Welt. Im Gespräch kann sie zurückhaltend bis zum Nichtssagenden sein. Tatsächlich aber ist Hahn durchaus - und sehr amerikanisch - offen für allerlei volksnahen Unfug; auf ihrer Internet-Seite findet sich wunderbare "Fan Art"; Selbstgemaltes von Bewunderern (wir empfehlen das lustige Sonnenbild!), außerdem gibt es "Itty Bitty News" (zum Beispiel eine Todesanzeige ihres Meerschweinchens Psyche: "starb am 30. Juli 2004 mit zweieinhalb Jahren an einer rätselhaften Verdauungsstörung") und ein regelmäßig geführtes Reisetagebuch. Die Seite enthält auch Tipps, wie man alleine Zeit in einem Hotelzimmer verbringen kann: zum Beispiel mit "Lesen", "Auf dem Bett auf und ab springen", "Bügeln", "Fernsehen (Filme, ausländische Sendungen, Tierrettungsshows, Sport oder verrückte amerikanische Sendungen, wenn jemand Amerikaner ist und Heimweh hat)", "Alle Möbel umstellen (eine meiner Lieblingsbeschäftigungen)" und so weiter. Außerdem führt Hahn gerne mit Mitmusikern Interviews, wobei immer dieselben Fragen gestellt werden: "Ist Schokolade eine Droge?" - "Lieblingstiere?" - "Was halten Sie von Bach?" - "Schnittblumen?" und so fort. Dass man sie auf ihren Fotos kaum je lachen sieht, ist also erstaunlich; da sie diese Fotos aber selbst auswählt, vielleicht auch erklärbar. Sie sieht sich, wie so manche junge Dame, wohl nicht gern selbst beim Lachen zu. Ein richtiger Wonneproppen hingegen ist Hahns niederländische Kollegin Janine Jansen: Sie strahlt am liebsten von einem Ohr zum anderen. Jansen ist sich auch nicht zu fein, auf ihrer Homepage mit einer Fotogalerie von nicht weniger als fünfzehn Bildern zu prunken, während ihre lettische Konkurrentin Baiba Skride sich gerade mal sechs gestattet. Und wo Skride auf dem Cover zu ihrem Solo-Recital in Jeansanzug vor einem Bretterzaun street credibility einforderte, da sieht man Frau Jansen in abendgerechten Tüll- und Seidenträumen, aber auch im kleinen Schwarzen oder schlichten weißen Hosenanzug. Kurz: eine Frau fürs zarte Geigendiner, wo Skride eher den Typ zum Pferdeausreißen gibt. Die schnuckelklassischste aller Photogalerien aber hat die Berlinerin Caroline Fischer aufzuweisen. Auf ihrer Website präsentiert sich die "Pianistin aus Leidenschaft" auf neunzehn (Rekord!) Bildern in allen Lebenslagen: sinnlich schmollend, verschmust lächelnd, kühn viel nacktes Bein von sich spreizend. Man meint, plötzlich in die Bewerbungsmappe für eine Teenie-Modelagentur geraten zu sein, so ungehemmt trägt Fischer hier ihr Aussehen zu Markte. Und Klavier spielen kann sie auch noch! Die Herren spielen bei der Schnuckelklassik vorläufig noch die zweite Geige. Rolando Villazón, an dessen Charme nichts zu rütteln ist, hat große haarige Raupen statt Augenbrauen, und der junge griechische Geiger Leonidas Kavakos besteht überhaupt nur aus Behaarung. Das mag für Teddybären angehen - die Bedingungen der Schnuckelklassik erfüllt ein freundlicher Klavierknuddel mit lustiger Igelfrisur aber doch besser. Der Mann heißt Lang Lang und hat schon hartgesottene Politik-Redakteurinnen dieser Zeitung in Verzückung versetzt. Und ein ganz heißer Kandidat als erster Schnuckelklassik-Dirigent ist Gustavo Dudamel. Lockenköpfig, liebenswürdig, enthusiastisch wie ein Welpe, laut der Tageszeitung "El Universal" einer der schönsten Menschen Venezuelas - und ein wunderbarer Musiker, der demnächst, so ein Zufall, groß bei der DG rauskommen wird. Herzigkeit sells! Und Klassik ist die neue Schnuckelmusik. ------------------------------ Fotos (5) : Caroline Fischer So entspannt sich die "Pianistin aus Leidenschaft" (siehe www.carolinefischer. com), wenn sie gerade mal nicht in die Tasten greift. Anne-Sophie Mutter Überaus stürmisch geigte die Ahnfrau der Schnuckelklassik schon in jungen Jahren (....). Janine Jansen In französischen Fauteuils ist gut fläzen. Die Geigerin wählt dazu einen duftigen Tüll-und-Seiden-Traum (....). Lang Lang liegt flach im Sand: der chinesische Pianist bei einer Dehnübung. Gleich wird er wieder im Rachmaninow wüten (....). Hilary Hahn Wenn sie mal nicht ihre Geige in Schach halten muss, springt sie gern kontemplativ in Hotelbetten auf und ab (....). Ein neuer Typus hält Einzug ins Klassik-Gewerbe: junge Musiker mit verstärktem Niedlichkeitsfaktor: Schnuckelklassik!!!

[@zuzannawisniewska4464]

I definitely agree.

[@sergiothedancer]

No words to describe the talent, beauty and besides the great composer of this cconcerto.

[@ahimsainternational3361]

Unbelievably beautiful and subtle performance!

[@NgocTuSam]

Your love for Halloween and music is so heartwarming! Keep embracing what makes you happy and sharing it with others!

[@darrickjohnston5642]

There is no ego, no rendition, no transparent forced bravado, just perfection, I’ve watched the descendant Paganini do this and she is better by far for feel and technical reproduction.

[@gerzonsosa9406]

Beautiful concert, excellent soloist, BRAVO!

[@helmutniehaus4799]

Ich bin vollauf begeistert von Hilary Hahn, absolut perfekt.

[@amaurydeclaracdheigne3700]

Magnifique de maîtrise et de virtuosité. Quelle énergie "virile" chez cette jeune femme mélangée à une délicatesse toute féminine. Non, je ne suis pas macho, seulement admiratif !!!

[@guyindorante8786]

This is one of the best classical recordings to ever exist. One of the most difficult concertos (and cadenzas) ever written for one of the most technically difficult instruments ever invented, all performed with 100% accuracy and impeccable musicianship. Hilary truly is the queen of modern classical interpretations.

[@AlfredoHernandez-un2em]

This is the ONLY rendition of Paganini's first violin concerto that is not out of tune like so many out there. Thanks Hillary!!!

[@TiqueO6]

She finds so much meaning in the music, the intents that many others may never even come close to articulating because they’re not looking so deeply as she obviously does. She ARTiculates a very high expression of the musical ideas that are often truly IDEAL and while the composer had the vision and what I like to call “EarMagination” (and the 'luxury' of not necessarily having to perform them in real-time) she somehow is able to pull of such deep concentration on the essences of the ideas and tells us the whole story of the full phrases and passages, not just making it through but taking us as far as I’ve ever needed to go on the journeys that we're lucky enough to share these moments. Always eternally grateful, I and many other are for this! Thank you again Hilary for your art and generous spirit!

[@JuleSophia]

This woman is UNBELIEVABLE. When I listen to her playing the violin I constantly think .... HOW. Like, HOW THE ACTUAL FUCK. She masters the violin downright perfectly. For christs sake ... this is insane

[@williamzhu9160]

it sucks that so few of the old best violinists such as of course heifetz and oistrahk didnt play this piece. i think that this interpretation is the best that we have right now. very quite amazing

[@predragpetronijevic9385]

The best interpretation of Paganini concert No.1 is, without doubt, Itzhak Perlman (recorded 1973, or 1972). Much better, than Hillary.

[@lelafritzer2955]

@@predragpetronijevic9385 There is no "better, without doubt" in music. You can say that it's your favourite version by far or that you like it much more than this version, but music is subjective.

[@paulvohra7550]

Leonid Kogan played and recorded it.❤️👏❤️

[@quill444]

also, _Kreisler_ (1936) kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3SZmZKLipqDeKM - j q t -

[@billbusen]

I believe I read that Heifetz played it earlier in his career, but never recorded it. According to his student, Sherry Kloss, he did teach the Paganini concerti.

[@ruteleable]

Breathtakingly beautiful concerto, unbelievable performance... just wow! Hahn is the epitome of perfection.

[@MsCoralyang]

Hilary's style is quite a perfect fit for Paganini. I truly enjoyed this violin concerto.

[@twogood4u2]

I must have been living under a rock, first time hearing her play and she is awesome!!

[@alexfeynman2098]

Two set violin, thanks a lot for this

[@lloydaran]

The 3rd movement, Rondò Allegro Capriccioso, is so delicious. Sounds joyous, sometimes even silly, but it's so wonderful. Hahn has an incredible touch and musicality and Paganini was a fantastic composer.

[@jeffreym4273]

Most beautifully played! Timing, tone and intonation...sublime.

[@vgrof2315]

I watched this amazing lady perform Brahms' Violin Concerto earlier tonight. I was exhausted for her by the end. The lady must have been in Super Woman condition for that performance. Bravo! I will save this performance for another time. Thank you.

[@zanny151]

Her playing is very confident but never does she show-off most excellent

[@chomo54andbabyaisha97]

I know it is not very "classical musician", but when she hoola hooped with two-set that was just so fun to watch.

[@WhitleyAKW]

@3:22 OMG It's the piece from that video of the dude with the face!!! I FINALLY FOUND IT!!!! And it is superb

[@inconcievable8751]

what video?

[@WhitleyAKW]

Inconcievable, It is called “Paganini for faces (Concerto pour grimaces) - ORIGINAL” by Face Man and it is a gift.

[@inconcievable8751]

Anna Fink oh cool thanks

[@vibhavperi983]

Does anyone notice how the picture keeps zooming out as the video progresses

[@sergejvasiljevitsjrachmani2808]

Yes, it's very light but it's there. You have very good eyes lol

[@박수현-b4e8r]

Fearless , Brilliant , Incredible , Amazing Performance .

[@dan1672]

I was in love with Hilary's first recording of this, my fave piece from babyhood. I am also a violin player and I want you to know how much I admire your work Hilary, esp. Bach and this piece. You, are a goddess of the Violin in my eyes and in my Heart. Thank you. D

[@irenakolodziejczyk8546]

Zdolna ,piękna pracowita,38 lat, uzdolniona,wspaniała Kobieta. same wspaniałe komentarze ,przyjemnie posłuchać i popatrzyć...gratulacje...jaki piękny byłby świat...gdyby ludzie zamiast walczyć słuchali muzyki...

[@angiechen8561]

This piece is so beautiful that I have to listen to even the over 3 min long intro in the beginning! Hahn's intonation and tone quality is just so perfect!

[@southtexas9149]

I am a classical music junky, this is by far my favorite Violin Concerto, for those of you who disagree, I am sorry, we all have our likes and dislike... like a fine bourbon, I love the wood taste you may, sophistication of the flavors blending. That being said...NO ONE< and I MEAN NO ONE records Paganini as well as Mrs. Hahn. I haven't seen her play in concert, however, I can imagine the live isn't that much different than the recording. SHe is a perfectionist and plays it as close to perfect as anyone in this recording. I have heard over 100 recordings of this concerto, This is good but so is the Vienna orchestra recording. IF someone knows of a recording that is cleaner and more technically proficient, please let me know which one it is.

[@DLCaster]

Off the scale. Unbelievably virtuosic and mesmerizing. Simply superb.

[@sefaemreilikli]

Hilary Hahn: **plays Paganini** Me: I wonder how I can erase my existence from the universe?

[@ben3372]

If every person erased their existence because of listening to this then the world population would probably be somewhere in the negatives.

[@PutitinDaramen]

sadly no. not many people listen to classical music any more and so a more accurate description of who would disappear are the ling ling wannabes

[@sanablue]

just imagine. all the people who listen to classical music getting erased... what will be left on this planet?! that would be a terrible place full of people who don't know anything about good music...

[@mickeydrago9401]

I don't get it

[@Killerbee4712]

Is that an insult or a compliment I really cant tell

[@vasilikaranos8603]

5:30 THAT WAS SO CLEAN OMG

[@SempreGumby]

I laughed when I heard her do it. Then I saw your comment!

[@OrlandoAponte]

Paganini wasn't the greatest composer, but god damn, this concerto is charismatic and charming.

[@mariodisarli1022]

+AbsoluteZ3R0 Vienna (Wien) Wiener Zeitung Kultur 09.06.2006 Pausenfoyer Von Christoph Irrgeher und Edwin Baumgartner (eb) Vorbei die Zeiten des Jugendwahns, in denen Vierzehnjährige als die Superstars von morgen angepriesen wurden, um mit sechzehn zugunsten eines Dreizehnjährigen fallen gelassen zu werden. Der Klassik-Superstar von heute ist jung, weiblich und hat Model-Maße. Sex sells. Mit Können allein läuft gar nichts mehr. Julia Fischer etwa. Eben ist sie von einer Blinddarmentzündung genesen, und schon tritt sie heute, Freitag, und am Samstag im Konzerthaus auf. Aber den ehrenwerten Tempel der Hochkultur könnte sie mühelos mit dem Catwalk verttauschen. Ja, natürlich kann sie spielen - und wie! Keine Ohren hat, wer das bezweifelt. Aber blind ist, wer nicht merkt, wie toll Julia Fischer aussieht. Das weiß auch ihr Management: Mehr als 10 Fotos gibts auf ihrer Home page (.....) zu bewundern. Und nur sechs Hörbeispiele. Aber Julia Fischer ist nicht einmal die Spitze des Eisbergs! Allein diese Violinistinnen. . . Lidia Baich, Leila Josefowicz und natürlich Hilary Hahn sind nicht nur Top-Geigerinnen, sie wären auch Top-Models. Natürlich hat das ganze geigende Fräuleinwunder mit Vanessa Mae begonnen. Aber selbst sie ist nichts gegen die Finnin Linda Lampenius, die sich mit Künstlernamen Linda Brava nennt. Die gar nicht brave Brava also hat einen Gastauftritt in der TV-Serie "Baywatch" gehabt - und danach den Bikini für den "Playboy" ganz ausgezogen. Vielleicht sucht sie ja eine neue Hauptbeschäftigung.

[@nevinskajagalinaivanovna]

Согласна--очаровательное исполнение

[@fredericmoresmau4303]

some people are ultrasick

[@geppy707]

Ypu cant say which composer was the best. Everyone has something special. Someone likes Tchaikovsky more, someone mozart, someone schubert. I personally think paganini is one of the best.

[@trxggeredexe1909]

aggreed

[@tylerbarnes8815]

If you can play it simply, you can play it masterfully.

[@1739camilli]

Frightening accuracy! The Sauret cadenza unequalled!

[@cmw9876]

That's one helluva fine squeak. Glad I've heard "The Paganini Cannon" play Paganini before my ears give up on me. Thank you, Hilary. I wish I could repay the joy this has bought me.

[@lindameneken998]

And yes, bravo to Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra!

[@Mary-rc1vy]

FELICITO A LA PERSONA QUE PONE A NUESTRO ALCANCE ESTA BELLEZA DE MUSICA DE PAGANINI, MUSICA QUE MUCHOS QUISIERAMOS ESCUCHAR SIEMPRE. LO BELLO SIEMPRE SERA BELLO

[@republiccooper]

Not a lover of this piece but an awestruck admirer of the performance. Amazing!

[@francopognant464]

Fantastico, pura musica. La combinazione Paganini-Hahn favolosa.

[@claudio8313]

Il Paradiso!

[@jonathanxavier3000]

First concerto I've ever finished complete masterpiece

[@williamthomaz4713]

A performance é maravilhosa, precisa e sentida.

[@augustedelfosse]

Y a pas a dire c'est la meilleur a tout point de vue c'est d'une pureté extraordinaire Les mots ne sont pas suffisants , écoutez cette artiste dans n'importe quel concerto il y a un plus ,,,son violon chante du début à la fin, et l'archet pour les nuances !!! Il y a des bons , des très bons , mais n'oublions pas l'excellence ,Je l'A--e Merci Hilary

[@juandelacruzlopezgomez4619]

Feliz de escuchar este hermoso y difícil concierto, muy bien interpretado y el violín suena maravilloso, en la foto se ve tan bonita esta talentosa violinista que es una pena no verla.-

[@annamariamanfredi6624]

Inizio l'08 marzo 2024, Giornata Internazionale della Donna, con questa Musica eccezionale, interpretata da un'artista altrettanto "eccezionale", augurando a tutte le "donne del Mondo" una Vita ricca di "Dignità, Libertà, Amore". Pace e Amore sia la nostra "bandiera" issata su tutto il Pianeta, noi che diamo la Vita, il dono più grande e prezioso. Auguri donne❤ Un abbraccio ❤

[@mariannamycroft2611]

Simply fantastic. I don't know anyone better. Terrific. Astonishing. Marvellous. Unbeateble. Pure music.

[@Inigobalboa]

Vengerov. Accardo. Menuhin.

[@syafrinoduo2334]

Salvatore Accardo is better

[@georgescancan7503]

Hilary Hahn - PR product, made by "PR&sex sells" company, money making machine! ALEXANDER BOOT Author, critic, polemicist Blogs > Alexander's blog > Submitted by Alexander on 24 June 2013 - 12:59pm The other day I listened to something or other on KZbin, and a link to Chopin’s Fourth Ballade performed by the Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili came up. The link was accompanied by a close-up publicity photo of the musician: sloe bedroom eyes, sensual semi-open lips suggesting a delight that’s still illegal in Alabama, naked shoulders hinting at the similarly nude rest of her body regrettably out of shot… Let me see where my wife is… Good, she isn’t looking over my shoulder, so I can admit to you that the picture got me excited in ways one doesn’t normally associate with Chopin’s Fourth Ballade or for that matter any other classical composition this side of Wagner or perhaps Ravel’s Bolero. Searching for a more traditional musical rapture I clicked on the actual clip and alas found it anticlimactic, as it were. Khatia’s playing, though competent, is as undeniably so-what as her voluptuous figure undeniably isn’t. (Yes, I know the photograph I mentioned doesn’t show much of her figure apart from the luscious shoulders but, the prurient side of my nature piqued, I did a bit of a web crawl.) Just for the hell of it I looked at the publicity shots of other currently active female musicians, such as Yuja Wang, Joanna MacGregor, Nicola Bendetti, Alison Balsom (nicknamed ‘crumpet with a trumpet’, her promos more often suggest ‘a strumpet with a trumpet’ instead), Anne-Sophie Mutter and a few others. They didn’t disappoint the Peeping Tom lurking under my aging surface. Just about all the photographs showed the ladies in various stages of undress, in bed, lying in suggestive poses on top of the piano, playing in frocks (if any) open to the coccyx in the back and/or to the navel up front. This is one thing these musicians have in common. The other is that none of them is all that good at her day job and some, such as Wang, are truly awful. Yet this doesn’t really matter either to them or to the public or, most important, to those who form the public tastes by writing about music and musicians. Thus, for example, a tabloid pundit expressing his heartfelt regret that Nicola Benedetti “won’t be posing for the lads’ mags anytime soon. Pity, because she looks fit as a fiddle…” Geddit? She’s a violinist, which is to say fiddler - well, you do get it. “But Nicola doesn’t always take the bonniest photo,” continues the writer, “she’s beaky in pics sometimes, which is weird because in the flesh she’s an absolute knock-out. “The classical musician is wearing skinny jeans which show off her long legs. She’s also busty with a washboard flat tummy, tottering around 5ft 10in in her Dune platform wedges.” How well does she play the violin though? No one cares. Not even critics writing for our broadsheets, who don’t mind talking about musicians in terms normally reserved for pole dancers. Thus for instance runs a review of a piano recital at Queen Elizabeth Hall, one of London’s top concert venues: “She is the most photogenic of players: young, pretty, bare-footed; and, with her long dark hair and exquisite strapless dress of dazzling white, not only seemed to imply that sexuality itself can make you a profound musician, but was a perfect visual complement to the sleek monochrome of a concert grand... [but] there’s more to her than meets the eye.” The male reader is clearly expected to get a stiffie trying to imagine what that might be. To help his imagination along, the piece is accompanied by a photo of the young lady in question reclining on her instrument in a pre-coital position with an unmistakable ‘come and get it’ expression on her face. The ‘monochrome’ piano is actually bright-red, a colour usually found not in concert halls but in dens of iniquity. Nowhere does the review mention the fact obvious to anyone with any taste for musical performance: the girl is so bad that she should indeed be playing in a brothel, rather than on the concert platform. Can you, in the wildest flight of fancy, imagine a reviewer talking in such terms about sublime women artists of the past, such as Myra Hess, Maria Yudina, Maria Grinberg, Clara Haskil, Marcelle Meyer, Marguerite Long, Kathleen Ferrier? Can you see any of them allowing themselves to be photographed in the style of “lads’ mags”? I can’t, which raises the inevitable question: what exactly has changed in the last say 70 years? The short answer is, just about everything. Concert organisers and impresarios, who used to be in the business because they loved music first and wanted to make a living second, now care about nothing but money. Critics, who used to have discernment and taste, now have nothing but greed and lust for popularity. The public… well, don’t get me started on that. The circle is vicious: because tasteless ignoramuses use every available medium to build up musical nonentities, nonentities is all we get. And because the musical nonentities have no artistic qualities to write about, the writing nonentities have to concentrate on the more jutting attractions, using a vocabulary typically found in “lads’ mags”. The adage “sex sells” used to be applied first to B-movies, then to B-novels, and now to real music. From “sex sells” it’s but a short distance to “only sex sells”. This distance has already been travelled - and we are all being sold short.

[@EricWeberGoogle]

Syafri No Duo His metal strings are too annoying...

[@avecavec8479]

With due respect for her excellency: does she play Sarasate / Zigeunerweisen, for exemple?

[@michelgabet7125]

Mais comment fait-elle pour nous restituer aussi intensément le souffle vital du compositeur?... En plus de la technique et des nuances, il y a sa passionnante possession des cordes et de toute sa merveille d'instrument au point, semble-t-il, que la musique qui est en elle lui permet de nous offrir, en même temps que sa beauté, le monde immense de sons et d'harmonie qui fait notre joie tant que dure l'écoute...et après

[@StarsAndCatzau]

We simply adore this. Tremendous.

[@alejandrotaverareyes]

Wait till the simply piano ad hits

[@bachkirche]

Commercial between movements? To hell with that

[@alejandrotaverareyes]

Only the most evil people

[@amitailavi9512]

Always remember KZbin's slogan: FUCK you

[@alejandrotaverareyes]

@@amitailavi9512 hahaa

[@purplepizza2159]

At least its not in the middle of the music

[@n2g747]

USE ADBLOCK PEOPLE

[@jasonshick1793]

Ear candy. Best violinist in the world, hands down.

[@vishnuhalikere2151]

Love the part at 5:43. So beautiful 😇

[@howwouldyoucallme]

This piece itself is the whole Ling Ling workout

[@stephenscheissloch818]

You mean a whole PISS PISS workout

[@mrsolo98]

Incroyable interprétation ! Bravo !

[@claudiodusi8936]

Hilary !Perfect!Thank you!!!

[@rosergrino]

Hilary Hahn es para mi una de las mejores violinistas del mundo, como le dije a ella hace unos años en Barcelona para mi es la hija "violinisticamente" hablando de Daviv Oistrack a quien también tuve el placer de oír y ver cuando era pequeña en barcelona y en Prades (Francia) en los festivales de Pau Cassals. Pocos violinistas se atreven a tocar en público este concierto que precisa de una gran habilidad digital. Felicidades Hilary.

[@KingApeiron]

20:34 that string pluck I died

[@victorycoffee92]

*_p i z z i c a t o_*

[@edwardhuang5885]

@@victorycoffee92 pizzacato

[@msDanielp369]

are u ok

[@DaviSilva-oc7iv]

No it's p i z z i c a t o

[@karlrodiger7580]

@@DaviSilva-oc7iv why? xD

[@JE58-rbi]

Wonderful performance by Hilary Hahn!

[@worklg75]

tocca il cuore. it goes directly to the heart, wunderbar

[@jongoodman4622]

Hilary, this is such a joy to hear. Truly a pleasure, thanks, I know that you put in a lot of hard work to perfect all that you do, I truly appreciate your talent and time, thanks for sharing all of this with us

[@terryhurd1715]

Wow! Paganini! Wow! Hilary Hahn! What a combination!

[@joshuafreeman9532]

Wow !

[@tobelieve627]

I’m a bit skeptical to her Mendelssohn but her Paganini is best of all. ,

[@josejuanmbueso8368]

what a unforgettable music!

[@CadMade95]

more hula hoop. Ling Ling tested and approved

[@ruler8315]

you practice 39 hours a day. thats a big nono. 40 hours a day you must

[@nathan2709]

Lol

[@mylord11100]

Que lastima grande que no contemos con el video, porque la interpretación de la Srta Hahn es monumental y digna de ser vista. Esta joven de 35 años tiene en sus manos (especialmente la izquierda) el poder que muy pocos virtuosos alcanzan a su edad. Digamos, además, que se "carga en su espalda" una versión full-full en la que cada dificultad de la pieza es superada con destreza. A la Orquesta de la Radio Sueca tuve oportunidad de escucharla interpretando Shostakovich y también en aquella ocasión tuve que destacar su desempeño. Bravo!!

[@rosemariemann1719]

At 19 May, 2021, How can anyone " dislike " this ? Decades of study, a superb sound. Friend of 2 Set Violin, and is probably Ling Ling, 40 hours a day.... 🎻😊🎻🇬🇧🎻💕😊

[@B3SSPR0]

Stunning performance! Fantastic work.

[@costicasimionica6917]

M-am apropiat de strunele dvs. fermecate, sunteti colosala, va multumesc si mult succes....

[@ruperttmls7985]

Una de las mejores grabaciones de este concierto; solo capaz de rivalizar con la de Perlman y la de Accardo, creo que esta orquesta esta mucho mejor que las de los otros dos. Muy recomendable

[@t.t240]

《ﾋﾗﾘｰ･ﾊｰﾝ》さんの､見事な《VI》のﾃｸﾆｯｸは､音の極限をも感じさせる様な難曲を､簡単に引きこなす所は､WORLD級ですね。👏👏‼

[@sebsubZz]

perfect! just like paganini

[@denniz122]

+Sebastiaan Kulwanowski so ... you heared paganini play? :D

[@sebsubZz]

denniz122 didn´t you know that i have built a time machine?! haha

[@southtexas9149]

+Sebastiaan Kulwanowski Havent you see hot tub time machine, We could go back and get these great artist and bring them to our time... ohhhh that would be heaven

[@sam-psonsmith9951]

+South Texas Don't you know anything about time travel? by doing that you could destroy art and music as we know it.

[@SJWBach]

better