Hilary Hahn Gives Ginastera Deserved Attention

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of Universal Music Group)

One week from today Deutsche Grammophon will release violinist Hilary Hahn’s latest album, entitled Eclipse. It is a concertante album on which she performs with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the radio orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, which serves as the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. The ensemble is led by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, who served as Principal Conductor between 2014 and 2021. As expected, Amazon.com is currently taking pre-orders for this new release.

One might describe the three selections as forming an arch with the keystone position held by Alberto Ginastera’s Opus 30 violin concerto. The advance release describe this piece as “rarely performed;” and this carries a bit of irony. The composer’s Wikipedia page asserts that he “is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas;” but the violin concerto is far from the only work of his that is rarely encountered, whether in performance or on recording. Ironically, the Ginastera legacy seems to have enjoyed somewhat of a surge of attention during the pandemic, since, prior to lockdown, my last encounter with a performance of his music took place at a One Found Sound concert in December of 2017!

To go back to the advance publicity, that “rarely performed” citation is followed by a description of Opus 30 as “a strikingly original 20^th-century gem.” Personally, I think that hits the nail right on the head. While Ginastera follows the usual three-movement convention, the movements themselves are far from conventional. The title of the first movement is “Cadenza e Studi.” In other words the composer handles the cadenza by having it precede everything else, rather than making it a reflection on previously-played thematic material. It is followed by six études, each dwelling on a specific performance technique. The movement then concludes with a Maestoso coda.

The second movement is an Adagio, which would probably be expected. However, it is scored for 22 soloists; and, in the spirit of “enquiring minds want to know,” I was a bit miffed that Hahn was the only soloist mentioned by name! (Yes, I know nothing about the members of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, but I still believe that all soloists deserved to be acknowledged!)

The final movement consists of two sections performed without a break. The first of these is a Scherzo, which, again, can be expected as the sequel to the Adagio movement; and it is followed by a Perpetuum mobile whose Agitato tempo wraps up the concerto in less than two minutes. All this makes for a highly engaging listening experience, and I sincerely hope that Hahn’s efforts will inspire other violinists to explore the many virtues of Ginastera’s concerto.

The other stones of the arch held in place by that concerto are Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 53 violin concerto in A minor and Pablo de Sarasate’s five movement “Carmen Fantasy.” There is no shortage of fireworks in both of these selections, and Hahn’s interpretations abound with positive energy. Taken as a whole, the album serves up a rather unique overall program; but that uniqueness deserves to influence both listeners and other performers.