The Week in Reviews, Op. 333: Hilary Hahn; Tai Murray; Alina Ibragimova

By Laurie Niles: In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world.Hilary Hahn performed Dvorak’s Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

• WTTW: "Hahn’s beautifully played passages set the overall tone, moving from the vigorously passionate and urgent, to quietly aching, intimate sequences, with her velvety sound shifting easily from one to the other."
• Chicago Tribune: "A more triumphant start to her tenure as artist-in-residence can hardly be imagined. Hahn was enthusiastically called back to the stage for an encore: the Largo from Bach’s C major Sonata. She played the movement with the tenderness of a lullaby, relishing the pauses as spaces to breathe, and to be."

Tai Murray performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra.

• Star Tribune: "...hers was an unceasingly exciting performance filled with pure, scintillating high notes and rapid-fire deliveries of tightly clustered tones."

Alina Ibragimova performed Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No 1 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

• Financial Times: "Ibragimova recently made an award-winning recording of the concerto with conductor Vladimir Jurowski, so the duo were already primed. Their live performance at the Royal Festival Hall only upped the ante — lean, tense, extraordinarily concentrated and working up a breathtaking head of steam. "
• The Guardian: "Jurowski might have been the returning hero but the solo violinist, the phenomenal Alina Ibragimova, was the night’s brilliant star."
• The Times: "(an) intensely felt, magnificently played and totally cogent account of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, with the London Philharmonic providing razor-sharp accompaniment under Vladimir Jurowski’s superb direction."

Joshua Bell performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic .

• PopMatters: "Bell’s strong, nuanced performance brought rich elements to the Beethoven work."

Nicola Benedetti performed Wynton Marsalis's Violin Concerto with the Halle Orchestra.

• LeftLion: "She's fast, but controlled, her playing is hauntingly beautiful. She is sublimely talented and has unbelievable stamina. Her technique is masterful and she plucks and strums the violin strings as well as using her bow. It's wonderful to watch and admire."

Roman Simovic performed Miklós Rózsa's Violin Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra.

• The Guardian: "The soloist was the LSO’s leader, Roman Simovic, who....had obviously taken to the piece – his performance had all the gutsy intensity and soaring lyricism that anyone could possibly want."

Please support music in your community by attending a concert or recital whenever you can! You might also like:

• The Week in Reviews, Op. 332: Martin Chalifour, Christian Tetzlaff, Ray Chen
• The Week in Reviews, Op. 331: Philippe Quint; Handel and Haydn Society
• The Week in Reviews, Op. 330: Karen Gomyo; Joshua Bell; Philippe Quint