Here is something to wake your ears up: Hilary Hahn in a stunning performance of the Ginastera Violin Concerto just posted a few days ago. With the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra.
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What a cadenza! Sounds blisteringly difficult -- Hahn is such an incredible player. I like Ginastera the more I hear. The first time I heard the guitar sonata I couldn't stand it. But it's grown on me, and a while back I was addicted to a Naxos album of his complete piano and organ works -- it finishes with a sublime theme and variations for organ, one of those works that I can't understand why it isn't played more often.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, been listening this week to this (relatively) new release and thought it might perhaps be your sort of thing. David Fennessy's Triptych for choir. This is the first movement, "Letter to Michael". From the liner notes about the text:
Hauck was a patient in the psychiatric hospital of the University of Heidelberg and in the summer of 1909 wrote many similar pages in the form of letters to her husband Michael, begging him to come and collect her. The text consists simply of the phrase Herzenschatzi Komm (‘Sweetheart come’) written over and over again, many hundreds of times or simply Komm (‘Come’). It seems the letters were never sent and her pleas were left unheard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQzGgLJsnOY
All three pieces have seemed to haunt me this week.
Ginastera's Guitar Sonata is still a piece I really don't like most of the time but Marcin Dylla's such a brilliant player he got me to not hate it, at least when I listen to HIM play it. He also did a great job with Diabelli's F major sonata when he played it here in Seattle.
ReplyDeleteI've liked that Hahn plays many of the warhorses but goes out of here way to play stuff like Schoenberg and Ives and has commissioned new works. It turned out her sabbatical year from touring fell on peak pandemic lockdown year. Glad that she's out concertizing again. If she ever records the Berg I'm gonna pre-order that one quickly. :)
Yes, the opening cadenza is ferociously difficult and she plays it to death!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, that sounds like an absolutely fascinating text to set.
I was never a fan of the Ginastera sonata, but perhaps I should be and I will certainly listen to Marcin Dylla's performance.
I'll bet she is saving the Berg for the right moment.
eh, nobody has to be a fan of the Ginastera sonata. :) I respect that it's made it into the guitar canon with cause but that doesn't mean it will ever be my favorite. Dylla recorded it on a disc that also has the Antonio Jose sonata, which I like a whole lot more.
ReplyDeletei think the Ginastera Violin Concerto is one of the best things he did and a much more suitable work for violin than the stiff and awkward Schoenberg and Stravinsky Violin Concertos. As far as I can tell it has only received a recording by Accardo which surprises me.
ReplyDeleteAs for Hilary Hahn, I like her in this Lunachick mode she is in for her early 40s, at least the demeanor, hair style and fierce pizzicatos. Of course she still lacks the tattoos. Ironically she is charting an inverse course to them as the lunachicks were full on in their 20s and early 30s and sort of became semi-normal women in their 40s albeit with many tattoos. Hilary was sweet and polite looking in her 20s and 30s but now is close to full Lunachick. I like her playing better though in this demented mode. I do wonder if this is how she now acts interpersonally haha.
Ginastera is hit or miss for me. When he's on he's a blast and when he's off he's hard to sit through!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard the term Lunachick. Who are these people? I've been listening to Hahn and attending her concerts for decades. She's got an indie aspect to her people might not notice if they don't follow her work closely. I don't know if she's ever gotten to work with Trent Reznor or Bela Fleck but she's been very open about wanting to work with both of them over the years. She did a free concert at the Capitol Hill Sonic Boom record store decades ago and that was probably the only time I ever saw Sonic Boom staff acting happy and friendly. Sure, why not? If one of the most formidable violinists on the planet decided she wanted to play a free CD release party for her Mozart disc at your store you SHOULD be happy!
If Hahn records the Ginastera that would be cool. She's been interested in exploring under-represented works in contrast to the warhorses for a while so there's room to hope. :)
For The Hatchet:
ReplyDeleteFrom Wiki: Lunachicks are an all women American punk rock band from New York City.[1] The band formed in 1987 and had been on hiatus since 2000, with the band reuniting in 2019.[2] The band cited influences including the Ramones, Kiss, and the MC5.
Ah ... I was over here on the West Coast and never heard of them. That explains things. :)
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