Hilary Hahn Bach Violin Sonata No. 2 Part 2

[SGPlayer0008]

This piece is horrendously difficult. She gives a wonderful interpretation of the lines. I've played this on the piano (BWV 964 in Dm), and this four part fugue is far more difficult on the violin. It's bad enough on a keyboard. My biggest problem was starting this section a bit too fast. Do that and you're ******.

[JohnZ622]

Destroys Grimaux's recording...

[JEANBOSET212]

Eres ,una virtuosa del violin ,y con una sesibilidad especial ,eres una maravilla

y un encanto oirte.un saludo

[SHIKISHIMA1990]

i can say it the best

[tachuman]

She is absolutely fabulous! Her playing of these Bach solo partitas and sonatas must be amongst the best I have heard. She must really love this music! Thanks for posting!

[bartmeijer1954]

makes you want to start practicing all over again...

[autoteck1]

I beleive she paints a wonderfull canvas, and that is the talent of a true artist, each has his or her own interpritation. This to anyones ear is Superb !, if everyone interpreted the music the same we wouldn't need Artists, Just Machines

[wunderms]

Hilary Hahn ist ein Wunder an Technik und Präzision; sie ist die bedeutendste Bach-Interpretin der Gegenwart.

[jorgeoscar1000]

none plays bach like Hilary end of story !!!!

[PBeF]

Best playing possible!

[olivleonardo]

Isn't there a "Part I"?!?!?!?!?!?

[100ThomasFletcher]

@olivleonardo there was a while ago but it vanished of the face of the earth and i haven't seen it sense

[amiraniable]

@ gitarankara: You've never listened to Rachel Podger's performance, have you? Hillary Hahn's version is pretty pathetique and unprofessional when it comes to the understanding of old music.

[ginsuchop100]

@amiraniable I don't think Podger, Holloway, Schroder, etc would call this pathetic or unprofessional. I've never met a period musician who looked down on modern Bach interpretations as inherently wrong. Just a different yet equally valid interpretation. I wonder what Bach, who seemed to be a progressive forward-looking innovator, would think of 21st century musicians trying to emulate the past. He might've actually liked the Tourte bow and pianoforte.

For me Kuijken and Hahn are preferred.

[HahnPotterishFowlnut]

@ginsuchop100 I couldn't have said it better:)

[amiraniable]

@ gitarankara: You've never listened to Rachel Podger's performance, have you?

[lovelife301]

Hilary Hahn <3

[Bachismydiety]

What stunning intonation and singing qualities of her instrument, I mean seriously!

[sk8channel100]

prodegy or what

[boomer4666]

10 poeple missed the like button AHAHAHA IM ROLFING SO FKING HARD ON MY CARPET! FUCK YOU!

[bagler101]

I can't come up with any substantive, objective complaints about this performance. It's amazing.

[Violascry]

10 people either have VERY bad coordination or VERY bad vision and missed the like button.

This is not music for mortals to comprehend.

[caitlinp99]

Search Deutsche Grammophon's site for the Verbier 2007 stream. It includes the complete Sonata 2 and much more.

[koxilas1193]

why did you delete other parts? i had seen them and they were awesome..really why?

[shane753]

I really want to see other parts.

[Keysforjourney]

10 people disliked it while they were crying and missed the like button

[Keysforjourney]

10 people dislike it while they were crying and missed the dislike button

[hd9xc1k2]

I thought you uploaded the video of Hahn playing Ysaye in the same concert?

[SlippinPegs]

Where is part 1?

[semperwifi1]

Dear Ms. Hahn: please record the rest of the solo Bach already :D

This is a phenomenal take on the A minor

[yangaidehua]

absolutely amazing... stimulating in fact. AMAZING :)

[bystroffc]

When I hear her, I only want to listen to Hillary Hahn for now on. Even Perlman pales when it comes to Bach. Only Kuijken can do Bach better, but also differently.

[jghamm]

so conivincing!!!

[aerostatov]

special

[cageynerd]

Her consideration of the line is 100% perfect. You cannot play Bach more insightfully, than this.

[dodgeballdude27]

Brillant!!

[gaswmskkorymva]

some times I doubt is real

[Pientek100]

do you know how old is she? xD

couse she look like 16-18

[yaakovha]

@Pientek100 she was born 1979, this was recorded 2007, so about 27

[jemccorm86]

I love your interpretation of this piece. I think you are a phenomenal violinist.

[mareoraft]

For some reason, I like Bach when when it is louder and courser. I like the vibrato only on the longer notes. Is anyone familiar with this style of Back interpretation? What do you guys think about this?

[cageynerd]

@mareoraft The lines are very very clear -- you don't miss a note. If anything, it is the perfect Bach playing. Interpretation wise, everything varies. It is with no doubt though, very very good.

[Xslyrk]

lovely

[odeonish]

really great job.. simply fantastic

[my666vs777]

well, Hilary have big potential, talent, she is very very good violonist .... but she never never will be great violonist.

[IVlr3vil]

@my666vs777 I disagree, her technique is exceptionally a high tier. Her recording of the Schoenberg Violin Concerto sounded effortless whilst Heifetz claimed it as unplayable.

I don't get what you mean by very very good or great, but I do know she's young and has MUCH more room for improvement. Look at David Oistrakh, he didn't get serious with violin until his college years. Until then, he was playing viola. Nobody knew what he could do with that violin.

[123clarinetplayer123]

@my666vs777 your dumb...

[milstein91]

@my666vs777 hahahah

[scaner411]

genius!!!

[kokopeli27]

This is the epitome of great - I am learning this on marimba - and that's hard enough! When Hilary sings it on the violin it's breathtaking.

[MagicPower2]

It's already difficult for me to play this piece on guitar - but on violine..... - incredible!

[matambale]

What a gift - to speak so eloquently and so long the words of a genius; with no sheet music - all from the mind and the muscles, leaving all kinds of room for careful expression and no fret over the mechanics. Not overstated, not understated, and not cold. And there's enough of her own emotion in it to show her investment and interest without getting in the way of Bach's work.

[XANVIOLINEZ]

me encanta esa forma de acariciar su violin!!!!

[prayformercy4]

love listening to her playing bach. this entire concert was great.

[polyababy]

she's like an ANGEL

[majav15mg]

Fugues are soooo beautiful.

[anewlow23]

Oh man I am convinced this girl is just a robot with organic skin over an endoskeleton I mean look at her movements.

[jackyzhoujw]

man. once you look at her hands you will fid our that she is no robot. there is no robot in this world can do this complecated solos yet.

[anewlow23]

I was just speaking metaphorically and having met her in person I think she is also very callous and unfriendly which further supports my theory.

[fingerhorn4]

Everyone has an occasional bad day. Perhaps you caught her on one.

[jlgviolin]

From a contemporary violin performance standpoint, she is top notch. Her technique is basically perfect, and her chord rolls are flawless and clean. However, I prefer period-appropriate performances, where Baroque style is employed. Listen to a Brandenburg concerto, where fast notes are long and longer notes are abbreviated. Here, she plays most of the long notes long, as well as the short ones. I've studied the style, and have performed them on Baroque violin. Just another interpretation.

[redeemer665]

Her chord playing techniques seem almost inhuman, making my eyes water.

Combined with her looks, I'm getting this really eerie feeling :C

[D0g63rt]

That's called an erection, it'll pass.

[fingerhorn4]

But what is the Baroque style? At best it is an assumption of how Bach and others were played. There are no recordings and no videos, only scant descriptions which are not reliable. The mannerisms now forming the assumed baroque "style" are often just that: for example the habit of exaggerated pausing before a cadence, which I find extremely irritating, has no basis in evidence. The best performance is a muscial one, and the best "style" is that which brings out the music.

[viola989]

@fingerhorn4: there are of course evidences. have you ever read johann joachim quantz's flute school? or carl philipp emanuel bach's "Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen", a kind of piano school. there are rather clear instructions about playing style.

and the third is leopold mozart's violin school, which is about the same thing for violin.

or have you ever tried a baroque bow/violin? there are (technical) things you can and cannot do with one.

[fingerhorn4]

@viola989 Yes I'm familiar with Quantz and the various "manuals" of baroque playing. Baroque music is kept alive and fresh by not burying it in playing "rules". Provided the player does not become tasteless or over-play, any style which musical and communicates the composition is fine. Bach rarely indicated any detail apart from the notes. It is the pretentious mannerisms of modern baroque playing which disturb me.

[fingerhorn4]

@fingerhorn4 And by the way, I think Hahn plays bach beautifully, with great taste, pulse, structure, line, phrasing, tuning, bowing and in all ways superbly.

[viola989]

@fingerhorn4: i don't know which mannerisms you mean; i personally really like baroque playing and phrasing, but there we're at the question of taste again.

i don't think the word "manual" is justified for mozart/bach/quantz. things that they write are not rules, but rather general guidelines.

[fingerhorn4]

You're right...they are general rules and not cast in stone. Some example mannerisms: Long and unnecessary pause before last cadential chord at end of slow movements; tendency to crescendo on every truncated long note in slow movements; complete absence of vibrato when a little would sound better; over-precious and bland playing of vigorous pieces; obsession with ornamentation rather than basic musicality; taking fast movements miles too fast; taking slow movements miles too slow, etc.

[viola989]

but these things are just... guidelines! no-one is obliged to follow them!

in our time a little vibrato is generally approved and accepted.

what you call "obsession with ornamentation" certainly varies with the performers.

and about the tempi: have you heard of talsma and his "metric theory"? he proposes exactly the contrary of "fast mvts-->very fast/slow mvts-->very slow"!

i don't know of which performers you speak when you're talking about these mannerisms,but all this varies a lot!

[fingerhorn4]

I think we are mostly agreeing here! I agree also that it varies among different groups and players. But coming back to Hahn....I like her playing of Bach because it is essential simple, uncluttered, beautifully in tune, with a beautiful sound, and not full of distracting mannerisms of the kind I described. As she says herself, her goal is not to place any barrier between the music and its communication.

[cageynerd]

Other than that, her phrasing is superb -- her voicing choices are impeccable. The story of Bach comes out in her playing. She just reminds us all what a genius Bach was by playing his music in the ways in which she finds his music genius. She is only a player of his music and his music, an account of his genius.

[gitarankara]

This is the best fuga perform I have ever listened!

[100violinista]

@gitarankara i agree!!!

[djangoism]

gonzal0999 es nada más que un machista pedacito de basura. Él es un hispano típico que nunca podría aceptar el dato que una mujer podría tener la capacidad de alcanzar las alturas de logro humano así como un hombre. No odie los que pueden lograr que de que usted sólo puede soñar, muchachito.

[gerald824]

beautiful girl...playing a beautiful piece....

[hilaryhahnisthebest]

gonza no tenes idea de lo que estas diciendo

[smilinjack11]

This is a treat to hear. Unlike many of you who have this fuga by as many as ten violinists, I am hearing it for the first time as I have purposely avoided listening to it. I play this piece on guitar and learned it from the Bach manuscript.  It took forever to memorize it but it sounds great on guitar. There are a few places here where she takes liberties from the original folio.

[cageynerd]

Okay, This has to be the best Bach I've ever listened to in my life... (relearning it)

[strad3411]

Her Bach is amazing. It easily compares to Milstein and Szeryng in my opinion. She doesn't do them too fast like other violinists tend to, and she knows how to bring out the important notes, which can be quite tricky.

[Hopfensperger]

I have ten recordings of this piece, and nine of them are slower than this.

[jamesjddong]

i have a problem with this video involving copyright laws... not!

hahns playing is amazing to listen to.

[Noxianfiend]

The only thing I don't like is that the video cuts off and I can't hear the ringing of the beautiful final chord. What a wonderful performance.

[1courage]

Fabulous!!! Amazing!! Cannot even be better. Wow!

[bach50]

Hilary Hahn = Violin GOD. Everytime I hear this I wonder how she does the crazy chord progression at 1:03. Amazing

[noloz]

personality and good sound... what else

[dxhaloxc]

sounds just like two violins.

[fretlessbass26]

I would so love to get to see her play live. she's amazing.

[Violinater]

I listened to Kavakos play this on Youtube and it was great. But notice how much vibrato Hahn uses compared to him in the beginning and tell me what you think.

[CracknHack]

Hahn does not use too much vibrato, I would say.

Compare other violinists who vibrate every tone, even the trills....

And she does not scratch chrr chrr,

she produces a very clean tone.

Like her most.

[cageynerd]

The voicings actually come out better when you vibrato the note with the voice. Like, whichever note is being focused on, I press a little more on it and my finger vibrato is more intense, bringing out that particular note. Try it.

[MusicologoUAM]

Perdona que no pudea expresarme en inglés. Te doy mi opinión de músico y crítico de música profesional. Kavacos empieza el tema de la fuga a una velocidad y acaba a otra; eso nunca lo debe hacer un buen músico. Hilary es lo más perfecto que oído nunca.

[PIPE3GUTI]

te apoyo,es correcto lo que afirmas,debemos tener claro que es ser musico,o violinista??,un violinista muestra su virtusismo y su facilidad etcc,pero un musico violinista busca la perfeccion o mejor dicho lo mas cercano a lo que es la interpretacion de Bach que de por si los invito a que si es que pueden intente tocar Bach delante de un musico violinista de la filarmonica de berlin,cualquiera.....,es una tortura,realmente los detalles y el estudio como debe ser de Bach,ahi no avanzara mas

[AntiVirus90]

@MusicologoUAM Totalmente de acuerdo contigo, Kavacos comienza el tema de una manera muy agresiva y brusca. Hilary toca las notas en su debido momento y lo hace de una manera perfecta, casi que lo hace de manera intuitiva.

[Violinmaster2]

@MusicologoUAM Sé cómo se debe sentir porque casi no hablan en Finalizar y mi familia desea que hago para que lo hablan a mí, pero yo no lo entiendo. Quería saber tu opinión sobre esta canción, así que utiliza un traductor en línea. Estoy de acuerdo con usted, sin embargo, Hilary Hahn es, de hecho, perfecto. En mi opinión es mejor que Heifetz y eso dice mucho.

[viola989]

i love baroque music with very few vibrato. for my taste, it's too much here. i got an impression of nervousness from it.

that's of course just a question of taste.

[IIIVVVXXX]

You spelled Hilary wrong on the info section of this video*

[AmateurViolinist]

I must say; Hahn is my favorite performer of Bach. When it comes down to it though, Oistrakh is my all-around favorite.

[sijas]

her purity makes bach so amazing!

although, i'd have to say i prefer james ehnes for bach a tiny bit more :)

[Ziggy1614]

yeah. james ehnes does kickass.

[freqcy]

James ehmes has no touch next to Hilary

and his musical talent clocks a 3 below plant life next Hilary. Get a new ear

[Ziggy1614]

er i wasnt comparing him to hilary.....

[Hopfensperger]

His Bach really does lack character.

[cageynerd]

OMG you are so right... I fixed your thumbs down. I hate people who don't have good ears... her voicing is amazing and it doesn't even look like she meant it but we all know she does...

[freqcy]

You hear what I hear.. and her music touches the soul

[debartzen]

Muy adecuadas las precisiones del maestro Zapatero Bosse.

Yo soy un simple melómano,sin conocimientos musicales pero creo que ésta jóven está llamada a ser algo grande en el terreno interpretativo.

Su madurez,aplomo y sensibilidad son muy reconocibles y le deseo el mejor futuro.

Para mi es excelente.!

[andviol]

como a varios lo dijeron aqui prefiero hann ke szeryng en bach y cabe mencionar que en entrevista hann dijo que la interpretacion debach que mas le gusta es precisamente de szeryng

[animeaff]

Sad piece...

[Sitioespacio]

she's my favorite violinist

[escaelis]

Well, depends on whether you see this as a 4 tone fugal subject or not, this and the c# minor fugue of WTC book1, show how Bach was a genius beyond imagination. Although I do not actually see this subject as "4 tone" I must say, that it is an incredibly short subject which... is very hard to develop into such a masterpiece. Bach is a genius... beyond imagination.

[ZapateroBosse]

Es, sin duda, un gran violinista. Sin embargo, a mí me gusta mucho más el sonido, el fraseo, las arcadas, la precisión, etc., de Hilary Hahn (esto es cuestión de gustos). En cuanto al análisis de esta fuga en concreto -y otras piezas en general tocadas por otros grandes violinistas- el afinador electrónico, con su objetividad, elige a Hilary Hahn como una intérprete notablemente más perfecta. Eso es lo que hay.

[ZapateroBosse]

También tengo en discos antiguos la versión de Szeryng de las partitas y sonatas de Bach; en el sello Archiv Produktion. Más tarde le conocí personalmente en un ensayo en Teatro Real de Madrid junto con el director de orquesta García Asensio.

[ZapateroBosse]

El violín no es como el piano, la guitarra u otros instrumentos, la afinación se puede medir hoy en día por medio de aparatos electrónicos; y esas máquinas son objetivas (yo tengo uno de esos aparatos; monitorizado por ordenador de tal forma que con él se pueden imprimir las gráficas y analizarlas despacio).

[ZapateroBosse]

En primer lugar pido perdón por no poderme expresar en inglés con la suficiente corrección y tener que escribir en español.

Llevo 55 años tocando el violín, soy profesor del Real Conservatorio de Madrid.

[4028814]

Thank you "twilightflame91", you are enriching my ears ^_^... and Great Greetings to Hilary who enriches my soul...

[KoEunDo]

woww.. such a beautiful performance.

she plays so smooth and makes it look so easy

that i want to play it as well:)

[kcak123]

This is a great Bach performance. They don't get any better then this.

[kellbellwon]

o wooow. im hoping to be that good one day. its just really hard you know, because I'm getting ready for college auditions, and i cant afford a really good instrument, much less a bow, so im kind of stuck in this depressing rut of not wanting to practice bc my instrument sucks so bad, but wanting to play so much, wishing so hard that I could pursue my dreams, but its like sabotage. i want to be like her one day...maybe one day.

[IhateGary]

I am totally in love. Absolutely amazing.

[HarutoSakaki]

Does this music appear in any of Hilary's albums?

[viola989]

no it doesn't (so far). she recorded the 2nd and the 3rd partita and the 3rd sonata.

[violinchick25]

awesomeness.

[scratofdabush]

This has to be some of the most amazing playing of Bach ever. I put Grumiaux top until this. Strangely, I don't usually find her particularly musical....

[victorolmsted]

wow than you obviously haven't ever listened to hinryk sczeryng or nathan milstein or menuhin play bach if you had grumiiaux at the top. i'm not saying hahn doesn't do a good job but she's not the best. personally, i prefer sczeryng to anybody else hands down. you should listen to one of the three i mentioned and see who's at the top when all is said and done.

[scratofdabush]

Yes, I have Milstein's recordings of the complete sonatas and partitas and a few movements by Szeryng and Menuhin(on DVD)(and Perlman even!)....I guess its a subjective matter as to who is the best. But Hilary's playing is superb regardless of whether one considers her interpretation "the best". We'd all love to be able to play like this!

[victorolmsted]

yea you're right i guess it is an acquired taste as to who the "best" is. again don't get me wrong, hilary hahn does a superb job but i'm in love with szeryng's perfection and interpretation

[czimon]

yeah!!! she makes it look so easy. the double stops are so smooth it's like different flavors of ice cream melting together. how does she do it?

[guitarslim56]

Practice.

[YsayevBach]

Yes:Prove to think all the time legato, maybe is not the ideal articulation in bach, that's the principal,so,relax to much the right hand,and play near to tallone,and center of bow,not more,and after make your own articulations,after tell me..I think if this performance was more articulated had been a little better,but the way what she play,is to secure,is what i analize,is very secure this way of she, seriously,prove that,i stay proved that also at that time in same sonata,function it! Regards!

[jefftherealdrunk]

I think you're trying to say she's playing "too legato," but I think it puts those sweet double-stops right in your face (pun intended).

[YsayevBach]

You interpret me in wrong way, i don't crithic anything if that's is you think, i hope you are violinist or know something about, i try to analize and give some idees for this person what ask and try to find some idea about how to do,(at purpose i don't see any more this comment, maybe was deleted)

I'm happy and admire this amazing peformance, i don't have any envy or stranges things like you insinue, what you insinue of my face? you try to be agressive with me?

Regards, Take care.

[jefftherealdrunk]

oh ysayevbach; your grandiose attitude is only surpassed by your lack of a good anti-psychotic medication.

[MrKuzoff]

OMG! It's absolutely incredible!

I think this Fuga is the most difficult of all Bach for solo violin. She plays it so easily!

[victorolmsted]

no the fugue in the third sonata is waaaay more difficult. it's twice as long as this fugue and it's so damned uncomfortable. i'm playing this sonata right now and this fugue is really not that bad. oh yea, brava to hahn btw.

[issavestheworld]

I agree with the C major fugue being much harder technically but all the Bach fugues are technically at the highest level including this A minor one. And Hilary Hahn truly did justice to this fugue!

[georgianamuraru]

i can't stop listen it....it's amazing !!!

[ellieamati]

totally amazing. her bach's the best

[x1soundgarden1x]

the power of christ compels you!!!

[MKDietz]

Though not a very good comment as such, as it really says nothing at all about the beautiful piece of music, I still find this comment extremely funn :P

[ThanxALott]

Bravo!

[lunapelon]

well this is fine but the best of all by much un Bach is SZERYNG

[victorolmsted]

YEEEESSSSS!!!! i also like milstein's interpretation but sczeryng is just perfect when it comes to bach.

[kcak123]

I prefer Hahn over Szeryng when it comes to Bach. There is an ease and beauty to her playing which slightly surpasses Szeryng. I also prefer her tempos. Hahn's voice leading in the fuges is unequaled. I only wish she would come out with a complete set of the Bach S&P, it would be my first choice, with the sets either by James Ehnes or Ilya Kaler running a close second.

[fenthedog]

This is my favourit version! very nicly played.

[Scalatti]

Very nice interpretation. Lovely. But what's with that thing in the background that looks like a cross? Cover that up, please!

[IVIaedhros]

Think about who we're dealing with. It's Bach. He wrote church music. They might even be in a church.

[hdunik]

The location is a church, according to Josh Ritter's blog on his Myspace.

[deepnosepicker]

The recital took place in a church at the Verbier Festival, 2008. There's your explanation.

[123mortimer]

My post below is a comment to cornel999

[Hopfensperger]

I have recordings of this piece by Tetzlaff, Ehnes, Milstein, Perlman, Grimaux, Kuijken, and Galbraith. Here, Hahn is the best I have heard in the fugue.

[yalostaya]

Just great.

[cremona32]

theres a bit of the grumiaux style in her bach,which is nice,because his music was always well paced and tonally rich.appreciate these uploads cool nice one!

[cageynerd]

OMG I love Grumiaux and I know for a fact that she loved his play, especially in Bach/Handel Sonatas.

[musicStoneD]

yeah,his performance is very nice..

[kaikobird]

Incredible! I saw her play this same program in Hudson, Ohio. In the Fugue, it is really incredible how she stays on the string the whole time while never sounding labored or un-dancelike in some way. She knows exactly what she is doing. (:

[scottbos68]

awesome

[oflynny]

These videos you have posted are excellent! Thank you very much for posting them!

[twilightflame91]

No problem, glad you liked them! :) And again, thanks for watching!

[cornel999]

Henryk Szeryng used to stand alone as the absolute all time master of these solo sonatas/partitas. i think Hilary has now joined him on the highest pedestal. it's a pity he didn't live long enough to hear her play.

[ironmaiden883]

I think he was the absolute all time master. What about Grumiaux's brilliant rendition, as well as menuhin's chaconne for instance. You should also check out Salvatore Accorde in the fugue. Hilary Hahn is amazing in her own right, but I won't go as far as to apply "the absolute all time master" title to anyone, even more so on something as incredible on Bach.

[123mortimer]

I'm so happy to hear you say that about Szeryng. I knew him well and attended some of his masterclasses in Geneva in the 80s. I think you are exactly right about him and Hahn. He would have loved her playing, and he would have understood how it continues and develops his approach.

[GaleoDeus]

Fugues forever!

The perfection of her technique is flabbergasting.