Poster A Woman playing violin
Violinist Hilary Hahn
Photo: Chris Lee
Performance Today®

Hilary Hahn

Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn loves Eugene Ysaye's collection of solo violin sonatas. They're wonderfully witty and inventive, but they're not well known outside of violin circles. Recently, Hahn recorded the complete set — it's an absolute treat for violin lovers. On today's show, Hahn joins Fred Child in our New York studio to discuss her recording of Ysaye's Solo Violin Sonata No. 2 (Obsession).

Extended interview Hilary Hahn on Ysaye's 'Obsession'

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Chen Yi: Chinese Folk Dance Suite Movement 2: YangKo (elastically)
Cho-Liang Lin, violin | Singapore Symphony Orchestra | Lan Shui, conductor
Album: Chen Yi: Momentum
Bix 1352

Traditional, arr. Wei-Chieh Lin: Taiwanese Folk Songs for strings
Cho-Liang Lin, Shih-Kai Lin, violins | Scott Lee, viola | Dmitri Atapine, cello
Taipei Music Academy & Festival, National Concert Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

Zhao Jiping and Zhao Lin: Distant Green Valley
Yo-Yo Ma, cello | Silk Road Ensemble
Album: Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon
Sony 93962

Yin Chengzong, Chu Wanghua, and Xian Xinghai, arr. Yin Chengzhong: Yellow River Piano Concerto
Lang Lang, piano | China Philharmonic Orchestra | Long Yu, conductor
Album: Lang Lang: Dragon Songs
DG 8233

Zhou Tian: Concerto for Orchestra: Movement 4 Intermezzo-Allegro
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra | Louis Langree, conductor
Album: Concertos for Orchestra
Fanfare Cincinnati 010

Hour 2

Somei Satoh: Bifu
Hilary Hahn, violin | Cory Smythe, piano
Album: In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores
DG 19103

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47: Movement 1 Moderato
Nashville Symphony | Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
The Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville, TN

Valerie Coleman: Tzigane for woodwind quintet
Elizabeth Mann, flute | Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, oboe | Anton Rist, clarinet | Michael Kroth, bassoon | Michael Thornton, horn
Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Packard Hall, Colorado Springs, CO

Eugene Ysaye: Solo Violin Sonata No. 2 ‘Obsession’
Hilary Hahn, violin
Album: Ysaye: Six Sonatas for Violin Solo
DG

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About Performance Today®

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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.

Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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