In 1995, the 15-year-old Hilary Hahn performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Lorin Maazel and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The youthful vigor of that exhilarating early performance has given way to depth and maturity, as exhibited in Hahn’s recent performance with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and conductor Alain Altinoglu, recorded on May 9, 2025.
Four unassuming timpani beats open the Concerto’s first movement (Allegro ma non troppo), and provide the seed out of which the music develops. Later in the movement, the motif becomes a titanic force, growling with ferocity. A restless duality surrounds the principal theme. It turns suddenly from sunny major to a shadowy, ominous minor.
The second movement (Larghetto) unfolds as a series of variations on a simple yet sublime melody. A solo violin cadenza forms the bridge which leads into the final movement, a boisterous and fun-loving Rondo filled with the calls of hunting horns.
Thanks for this, Tim. I remember Glenn Gould saying this work “gets by on guts and a good tune”. As you remind us, it is much more than that. I looked for the recording the Hahn performance but it looks like it hasn’t been released on record, just as a YT from the concert. Did anyone find it successfully?
I was at that concert! Hahn was fantastic. And she looked like she was enjoying herself.
Tell me if I’m crazy for thinking that the choice of works that evening – Beethoven’s violin concerto and Shostakovich’s 8th symphony – had something to do with it being on May 9, so close to the 80th anniversary of the end of war in Europe?