Hilary Hahn
I don’t often get to sit front row center at a concert. But to see Hilary Hahn perform for the second time in my life there was no other choice. Not only was I able to witness her delicate yet powerful hands with those wrists of rope-like quality, but I was equally entranced to observe the shadows of her eye lashes skate upon her cheeks, keeping time with her sublime strokes and powerful plucks.
And oh, her spectacular gown. A shimmery pumpkin color silk resplendent with huge bursts of appliqué maroon/magenta chrysanthemums interlaced with vine twines fashioned of shimmering crystals. The magnificent flow of this strapless gown regally silhouetted the still waif-like Hahn, who at 31 could pass for 13. With her translucent alabaster skin, regal posture and chignon, Hahn seemed like she stepped from an 18th century Dutch Masters' painting.
Directly prior to the concert, my friend Richard and I attended a lecture by Wine News senior editor, Lyn Farmer, entitled Engaging the Senses: How our senses shape our perception of the world. Farmer is a masterful speaker who reminded us, the audience, to use all of our senses to enhance the experience of the music. From my front row perch this task was easy.
Hilary Hahn herself was as much a feast for the eye as was her music an aural banquet.
Most poignant for me, however, was that I first saw Hilary Hahn 20 years ago at her debut at the age of 12 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. My dear life long friends, David Meyers and Roberta Strickler, took me to this performance where I was transported with the virtuosity of this then child prodigy. So Sunday evening’s concert was not only a banquet for my senses, but a bouquet for my soul as I reflected with gratitude my long-term friendship with David and Roberta.
For a more musical commentary of this excellent albeit challenging (for audience and performer) concert, please click on David Fleshler's review in the South Florida Classical Review. By chance, I had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Fleshler during intermission, and his review captures in delightful detail the nuances of this difficult performance. There was an otherworldly quality to several of the pieces that Hahn commissioned for her ‘Encore’ series, and Flesher agreed with me that the ghostly quality of some seemed an almost ‘sad’ reflection of our unsettled contemporary climate.
Returning to Dutch Masters, I strongly encourage my Dutch friends to make an effort to see Hahn's upcoming concert this Saturday, November 12th, at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw for the Higdon Concerto: Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra with Jaap van Zweden. She is sure to please and enrapture all your senses.
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