Performers
Accompanying programme
Concert introduction
What begins with four gentle timpani strokes ends in a pianissimo that has nothing gentle about it at all. Beethoven's magnificent Violin Concerto with star soloist Hilary Hahn and the timpani as the violin's proud companion at the beginning - then Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, a work of powerful seriousness. As part of the complete recording of all Shostakovich symphonies, the hr-Sinfonieorchester and its chief conductor Alain Altinoglu have now reached number eight. With this composer, says Altinoglu, you have to dare to go to the limits of the instrumental possibilities. Hilary Hahn also has all kinds of borderline experiences to offer, whereby her tone always remains flawless - it is not for nothing that the US-American with roots in the Palatinate is one of the world's violinist elite. It was in 1995 that the 15-year-old made her German debut with the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which she had already mastered with unerring ease. In this programme as part of the ‘Focus on Hilary Hahn’ at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, she will be performing Beethoven again exactly 30 years later, and with her own very special aplomb and tonal warmth.
(hr-Sinfonieorchester - Frankfurt Radio Symphony)
