Bach Violin Concertos: Hilary Hahn/L.A. Chamber Orchestra/Jeffrey Kahane on 180g 2LP

Bach's violin concertos are fundamentally different from the Virtuoso Concerto of the 19th century, which may be played much more subjectively, sentimentally, effectively. But with Bach the most important virtues are: absolute accuracy, logical phrasing, cooperation with the orchestra. The American violinist Hilary Hahn brings all this, and much more. She tackles the famous E major concerto BWV 1042 with a temperament that had gone unnoticed until then, almost briskly and powerfully, the orchestra (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra) meanwhile withdrawing discreetly into the background.

For this recording from 2004, Teresa Pieschacón Raphael wrote: “Hilary Hahn knows what she wants. She sets the impulses with her clear, contoured, not veiled violin tone, but this always unpretentiously, without put-on weightiness or virtuoso posturing and without degrading the orchestra to a lackey. Especially in the sustained middle movements, she seems to come completely into her own, although the deep intimacy and soulfulness that one can expect from particularly gifted artists only after a certain maturity is not yet entirely her thing. But she is already on her way to becoming a great artistic personality.