Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 61

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: Hilary Hahn, Alain Altinoglu, and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony

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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 …

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Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: Nathan Milstein, Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic

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Nathan Milstein (1903-1992) was one of the most elegant and innately gifted violinists of the twentieth century. The biographer Boris Schwarz called his playing, “a rare combination of classical taste and technical perfection,” adding that “the effortless nonchalance with which he achieves sophisticated technical feats is amazing.” Born in Odessa, Milstein studied with the renowned Pyotr Stolyarsky, who was also teaching the six-year-old David Oistrakh at the time. At the age of …

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Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: Perlman, Barenboim, and the Berlin Philharmonic (1992 Live Performance)

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It’s one of the great monuments of the violin repertoire—the Concerto that set the standard for all others that followed. Yet, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major was not received particularly well when it was premiered at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on December 23, 1806. It’s believed that Beethoven finished parts of the score so late that the soloist, Franz Clement, may have been sight-reading some passages in the concert. Additionally, …

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