Hilary Hahn is an amazing violinist who plays with such meticulous intelligence, grace, power and emotion.   She is the Gramophone magazine Artist of the year for 2008 and won a grammy in 2001 for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) .  Her latest cd featuring Schoenberg and Sibelius violin concertos debuted at number 1 on the Classical Billboard chart, a first for a Schoenberg recording.
She has been playing for almost her whole life, starting before 4 years old.  She studied with Jascha Brodsky at the Curtis Institute of Music in …

These Sonatas for Violin and piano are simply wonderful.  Both instruments share in the importance of the music, each trading leading roles in each piece.  Hahn and Zhu play beautifully, though perhaps not in a period purist style.  This is one of my favorite cds in my small but growing collection of violin music and it is a delight every time I turn it on.  Listen to excerpts after the break.

The Chaconne is definitely a journey and you feel it from the outset… And then Bach manages to take you through the entire range of human emotion… -Joshua Bell
Michael Lawrence’s new film which explores Bach from a spiritual, intellectual point of view as well as from the perspective of instruments and performance includes interviews with violinist Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn and many others.  The project is now in post production and looks like it will be a beautifully shot and very interesting documentary.  Watch a preview and Joshua Bell playing …