Hilary Hahn claims 1.5 million streams for new album

Hilary Hahn claims 1.5 million streams for new album

main

norman lebrecht

April 08, 2021

The ebullient US violinist is pumping up her new themed album, whose reviews have not been uniformly enthusiastic.

 

Some think the croissants taste fresher in Finland.

Comments

  • Rogerio says:

    I wonder.
    If Hillary was a member of the Violin Patriarchy, would critics say that her playing is as bad as it is?
    Man, I really wonder.

    • David Barber says:

      Don’t know what is wrong with your ears. Hillary is the rightful heir to Michael Rubin and Jascha Heifetz. The purest, most enlightened violinist playing today.

  • Genius Repairman says:

    The reviews may not be universally good but Gramophone loved it.

  • Christoph says:

    There’s been a cleavage among critics, it appears.

  • CarlD says:

    Every review I’ve read except Norman’s has been quite enthusiastic. And I’ll add my own robust endorsement FWIW.

  • violafan says:

    Why do you keep referring to yourself in the third person, Norman? Your review was the only negative (and very bizarre) one I came across.

    Her album has been praised by most classical music outlets.

  • Nijinsky says:

    Excuse me, but much as I have loved Hilary’s Prokofiev 1 over the years, from youtube, and being sure this new recording is up to par, who actually is being invited into people’s lives her or Prokofiev?

    And this being before the tragedy fell with censoring from Stalin, and the rest of it. Which truly becomes an interesting comparison, because with modern media the censoring and oppression can be much worse than Stalin to anyone not capable and “clean” enough to play the game. Anyone not indoctrinated into having lost their humanity enough to not be wiped out with cancel culture or the rest of it.

    I really find the kind of narcissistic remarks from more than Hilary quite baffling. Something akin to “I-need-you-to-love-me” and then all the marketing compliances. Stuff that would the composers they so love been into the music would have such lack of depth that it would have floated away long since. Gheorghiu says she misses the warm audience, others go on about how they’ve never been that long in the same place. I’ve not heard any but from one that they miss letting the music speak.

    What the @#$@)(# is this about, them or the music? Like Joshua Bell coming in one’s life like an adrenaline addiction one is supposed to find a wonderful joy ride, clueless as to how disturbing he can be with his superficiality and resentful it isn’t pampered.

    There was one film director, I can’t even remember her name, which I wish I could, and I remember her remarking about the actors, something akin to the extent that they are so narcissistic that she doesn’t even think about it. A whole mob in “classical” going on putting their “mark” on what by some miracle has remained, what’s beyond time, like the paintings in a museum where you see the beauty that’s left over, or that despite everything there’s a soft perspective that makes sense out of it all. Well they’ve put their mark on it all right. It’s dwindling immensely, consequently.

    • Thomas M says:

      She’s a modern artist in a social-media-dominated environment. What do you expect her to do? She has a nice Instagram channel with many home rehearsal excerpts that is actually quite exciting.

  • At a frequently cited rate of about $0.007 per stream that amounts to about $10,000.

  • IP says:

    A good example of a well-played bad disc. Does not take off at all.

  • BRUCEB says:

    Good for her.

  • Mikkim says:

    ” …whose reviews have not been uniformly enthusiastic.” Says more about the reviewers than the album.

  • Peter says:

    Can I ask any of the commentators above whether their latest CD is doing better than this ?

  • MOST READ TODAY: