The triple Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn presents Eclipse, an album celebrating her return to the stage. Recorded with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and its Chief Conductor (2014-2021) Andrés Orozco-Estrada, it sees the violinist deliver interpretations of three works charged with universal emotions yet rooted in their composers’ musical heritage: Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, a tour de force from the Czech composer’s “Slavic period,” Ginastera’s Violin Concerto, a strikingly original 20^th-century gem, and Sarasate’sCarmen Fantasy, among the greatest virtuoso showpieces of all time.

Also for the violinist the album marks a series of musical milestones. She has long loved the works it contains and discovered fresh insights and details of expression as she recorded each of them for the first time. Eclipse also reflects Hahn’s close collaboration with the musicians of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (in their home city and on tour) and her extensive partnership with Maestro Orozco-Estrada. Above all, it documents her return to recording, following a year-long sabbatical and many additional months of artistic solitude.

Hahn experienced intense personal evolution during her time away from the stage. After waves of canceled concerts and extended solo preparation, she arrived in Frankfurt for the live-stream of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, unsure of where her playing would lead her. With Orozco-Estrada and the Frankfurt musicians, Hahn returned to her truest form of expression, performing. In isolation, she realized, her musical identity had strengthened rather than waned. “When I got onstage for the Dvořák in April last year,” she recalls, “it was like a jolt of life, as if the world came rushing back in Technicolor.” Hahn and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony gave their first post-lockdown concert together in front of an audience two months later, during which their Ginastera and Sarasate performances were recorded live.

“I feel with this album like we made something powerfully beautiful together during a difficult time,” she adds. “When we played the final note of the Carmen Fantasy, I felt like I’d gone through a huge shift of perspective, through something really challenging, and emerged stronger as a person and a musician.” She compares this shift to the return of light that always follows an eclipse. “Artistic evolution can come from many sources, but it often comes from a big event. I am so happy that I can share this pivot, this landing, this merging of voices in the global language of music.”

Tracklisting:

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841–1904)

Violin Concerto in A minor op. 53

1) 1. Allegro ma non troppo – Quasi moderato – attacca

2) 2. Adagio ma non troppo

3) 3. Finale. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo

ALBERTO GINASTERA (1916–1983)

Violin Concerto op. 30

1. Cadenza e Studi

4) Cadenza –

5) Studio I: Per gli accordi. Allegro –

6) Studio II: Per le terze. Allegretto –

7) Studio III: Per gli altri intervalli. Lo stesso tempo –

8) Studio IV: Per l’arpeggiato. Lo stesso tempo –

9) Studio V: Per gli armonici. Andante –

10) Studio VI: Per i 24 quarti di tono. Larghissimo –

11) Coda. Maestoso

12) 2. Adagio per 22 solisti

1. Scherzo pianissimo e Perpetuum mobile

13) Scherzo pianissimo. Sempre volante, misterioso e appena sensibile

14) Perpetuum mobile. Agitato ed allucinante

PABLO DE SARASATE (1844–1908)

Carmen Fantasy op. 25

15) Introducción. Allegro moderato

16) 1. Moderato

17) 2. Lento assai

18) 3. Allegro moderato

19) 4. Moderato

Hilary Hahn

Frankfurt Radio Symphony

Andrés Orozco-Estrada