Violinist Hahn Brings Grace and Depth to Recital

Violin projects in recent seasons have been dominated by crossover trendiness and “selections to be announced from the stage.” None of that for Hilary Hahn, however. The young violinist brought four sonatas--Bach and Debussy framed by Brahms--Thursday evening before a very full house at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall.

She even played them all from memory, a liberating act of confidence and commitment once taken for granted in recital but now rare. Something of an anti-prodigy, Hahn, 19, is a well-studied and uncommonly reflective musician for any age.

The Brahms sonatas, Opus 78 in G and Opus 100 in A, set the lyrical standard. A more turbulent inner life can be exposed in these works, but Hahn--with the attentive and assured collaboration of pianist Natalie Zhu--gave them surpassing grace.

Elegance and poise are certainly a solid basis for interpretation here, and Hahn delivered those qualities with seemingly effortless control and an abundance of warm sound.

Her account of Bach’s solo sonata in A minor, BWV 1003, could have used more edge and definition in the outer movements, a nicely embellished but seamless prelude and a mechanically energetic finale. But the closely argued fugue was lively and articulate, and in the walking tread of the Andante, Hahn revealed an amazing variety of weight and step without varying the pace.

Her Debussy proved nimble and colorful. Technical challenges seem hardly to exist for Hahn, allowing an extraordinary range of nuance and inflection: She plays the notes as she wants, not as she must. Zhu provided pointed responses to Hahn’s more fiery flights in a stylish, thoroughly integrated duo performance.

In encore, Heinrich Ernst’s imaginative solo arrangement of Schubert’s “Erlkonig” unleashed the showy virtuoso latent in this fastidious musician, though in a hyper-serious mode. Hahn and Zhu then gave serene, radiant air to a Bach Siciliana and combed Debussy’s “Maid With Flaxen Hair” with infinite tenderness.