Mendelssohn, Shostakovich: Violin Concertos

1	Violin Concerto in E mino
2	Violin Concerto in E mino
3	Violin Concerto in E mino
4	Violin Concerto No. 1 in
5	Violin Concerto No. 1 in
6	Violin Concerto No. 1 in
7	Violin Concerto No. 1 in
8	Violin Concerto No. 1 in
Mendelssohn, Shostakovich: Violin Concertos
1.	Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 26:17
	Composed by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
	Performed by Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Hilary Hahn
	Conducted by Hugh Wolff
2.	Violin Concerto No. 1, in A minor, Op. 77 (revised as Op. 99) 37:29
	Composed by Dmitry Shostakovich
	Conducted by Marek Janowski
	Performed by Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Hilary Hahn

Barnes & Noble

Hilary Hahn has a knack for putting together unlikely musical pairs: Beethoven and Bernstein, Brahms and Stravinsky, Barber and Edgar Meyer. This latest pairing of concertos by Mendelssohn and Shostakovich may seem the most improbable yet, but in fact these two very different works complement each other very well. Hahn brings out the classical poise of the Mendelssohn in a performance that is fast-paced yet affectionate. The finale is particularly zippy, which Hahn says is her attempt to recapture the 19th-century performance style. Whether or not it's authentic, the result is extremely exciting. The dark, brooding, often angry Shostakovich A Minor Concerto offers a complete contrast to the graceful lyricism of the Mendelssohn. Here again, however, Hahn refuses to sentimentalize, though she obviously feels the music very deeply. Her tone is leaner and more intense, and she slashes through the scherzo (played very quickly) and finale with considerable vehemence. But it is in the slow first movement and the grimly dignified Passacaglia that Hahn is most impressive. Like David Oistrakh, for whom the concerto was written, Hahn "sings" the melodies with utter naturalness. The emotions expressed may be gritty and sometimes even painful, but she never indulges in self-pity, and the music is all the more powerful for it. Extraordinary. Andrew Farach-Colton

All Music Guide

Hilary Hahn delights in putting together works that normally don't go together. Her previous pairings of works by Beethoven and Bernstein, Barber and Meyer, and Brahms and Stravinsky went against what most listeners and critics think of as apt disc mates. And in every one so far, Hahn has succeeded: each performance is superb in its own right and each sounds even better in context of the work with which it shares disc space. But not this time. In her new recording of Mendelssohn's E minor and Shostakovich's A minor concertos, Hahn has coupled an astoundingly brilliant performance of the former with a slight and shallow performance of the latter. Hahn's Mendelssohn is one of the best in decades, a performance that stands with Mutter's and Shaham's and rivals the great Milstein, Heifetz, and Kreisler for virtuosity and vivacity. But her Shostakovich is as dreadful as her Mendelssohn is delightful. Hahn plays the work with stunning technique and as-stunning incomprehension. Any of the emotional or musical depth is missing, leaving a hole where the work's heart used to be. And in context of Hahn's bright and shinning Mendelssohn, Shostakovich's concerto sounds even more shallow and meaningless. While this disc is certainly worth getting for the tremendous Mendelssohn, the Shostakovich is ultimately not worth listening to. James Leonard