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Stories   >   The emotional release of Hilary Hahn's 'Eclipse' / 99.5CRB - Boston

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The emotional release of Hilary Hahn's 'Eclipse' / 99.5CRB - Boston

Posted: October 20, 2022
Interview with Cathy Fuller

Hilary Hahn’s latest album, Eclipse, celebrates the power of authenticity. Recorded with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and its Music Director (2014-2021), Andrés Orozco-Estrada, it sees the triple Grammy-winning violinist deliver interpretations of three works charged with universal emotions yet rooted in their composers’ musical heritage: Dvorák’s Violin Concerto, a tour de force from the Czech composer’s “Slavic period,” Ginastera’s Violin Concerto, a strikingly original 20th-century gem, and Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy, among the greatest virtuoso showpieces of all time. “This recording tells stories I didn’t understand until I returned to the stage after a long hiatus: the elation of coming into one’s own, the declaration of an artistic identity, and what it means to regain your native language through music,” says Hahn. Eclipse is set for release by Deutsche Grammophon on 7 October 2022 on CD, 2 LPs, and digitally, including a Dolby Atmos version.

The album marks a series of musical milestones for the violinist. She has long loved the works it contains and discovered fresh insights and details of expression as she recorded each of them for the first time. Eclipse also reflects Hahn’s close collaboration with the musicians of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (in their home city and on tour) and her extensive partnership with Maestro Orozco-Estrada. Above all, it documents her return to recording, following a year-long sabbatical and many additional months of artistic solitude.

Hahn experienced intense personal evolution during her time away from the stage. After waves of canceled concerts and extended solo preparation, she arrived in Frankfurt for the live-stream of Dvorák’s Violin Concerto, unsure of where her playing would lead her. With Orozco-Estrada and the Frankfurt musicians, Hahn returned to her truest form of expression, performing. In isolation, she realized, her musical identity had strengthened rather than waned. “When I got onstage for the Dvorák in April last year,” she recalls, “it was like a jolt of life, as if the world came rushing back in Technicolor.” Hahn and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony gave their first post-lockdown concert together in front of an audience two months later, during which their Ginastera and Sarasate performances were recorded live.

CRB's Cathy Fuller writes…..When Hilary Hahn was just eight years old, she made a surprisingly mature promise to herself. She vowed that if she were to become a famous performer, she would never be ungrateful or dismissive toward an audience member. She'd seen renowned musicians behaving that way. And she hated it.

Now Hilary is a star, with dozens of recordings, three Grammy awards, a wildly busy schedule, and throngs of devoted fans. And the prestigious magazine Musical America has just named her Artist of the Year.

Through it all, she’s kept her promise. In fact, it turns out that her relationship with her fans is as crucial and instructive for her as it is for them.

She practices with them (#100daysofpractice), she collects their artwork, she's created Bring Your Own Baby concerts, and you’ll always find her signing autographs after a concert.

It was inspiring to talk to Hilary Hahn about her newest recording, Eclipse, which came out earlier this month. Especially since it's a recording that almost didn’t happen. She had struggled within the stifling cocoon of the pandemic, and when it came time to record, the many concerts leading up to the recording sessions had been canceled. She had never brought the intense and relentlessly difficult Violin Concerto by Alberto Ginastera onto a stage with her. Nor had she ever performed Pablo de Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy.

Sharing with an audience gives breath to music, and the magic of experience can make all the difference. Time without audiences had dragged on, and she'd fought through a crisis of confidence. She’d lost her sense of self, and her trust in her own playing. She decided not to try.

It was with the help of friends, like conductor Andrés Orazco-Estrada, her collaborator on Eclipse, that she found the determination to say yes to the mics. And she couldn’t be happier with her decision.

You can hear our conversation, with music from the CD, by clicking on the player above. And you can read a transcript below.

PHOTO: Dana Van Leeuwen

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