Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1; Spohr: Violin Concerto No. 8

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Paganini
Vivien Schweitzer wrote in the New York Times: "Hilary Hahn, the young American violinist, lists the human voice among her greatest inspirations. It was also the voice, of early-19th-century bel canto opera, that inspired Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1 and Spohr's Concerto No. 8. Ms. Hahn plays both works on a new recording with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Eije [i.e., Eiji] Oue. Paganini's concerto, which opens the disc, is a virtuoso showpiece filled with ricochet bowing, double-stopped thirds and spiraling runs, which Ms. Hahn plays with agile and effortless athleticism, particularly in the fiendishly difficult cadenza, written by Émile Sauret, the French virtuoso. But while bel canto opera is full of coloratura flourishes, ornamentation and runs, it also requires long legato lines and emotional commitment. In his concerto, written in 1816, Paganini (a great admirer of Rossini) alternates his trademark technical fireworks with lush cantabile phrasing, which Ms. Hahn shapes beautifully. … [The work by Spohr] is less showy and more serious in tone than the Paganini concerto but even more richly lyrical" (10/29/06).