Inspired by Bach : Hilary Hahn

"Intet nytt under solen", Bach er og har vært inspirasjonskilde for svært mange skapende mennesker - uavhengig av kunstform og sjanger. Albert Schweitzer mente alt fører til Bach, i forståelsen at Bach var et vendepunkt som alt pekte frem mot før, og alt i ettertid pekte tilbake til. 

Hilary Hahn er en amerikansk fiolinist, som regnes blant verdens mest innovative og allsidige. Hun er kjent for sin analytiske, reflekterte, klare, kontrollerte og samtidig briljante spillestil, og for sin tekniske perfeksjon, blant annet en veldig ren intonasjon som for eksempel tillater henne å spille inn plate direct-to-disc. Hun har også en nysgjerrig og utforskende tilnærming til tilværelsen som fiolinvirtuos, der hun viser seg som en veldig jordnær og tilgjengelig stjerne.

Hahn er veldig aktiv på sosiale medier, der hun regelmessig interagerer med sine fans. For eksempel blogget hun tidlig, og platecoveret til hennes album Retrospectives (2018) er laget av fankunst. Hun har gitt åpne virtuelle mesterklasser under koronapandemien, og hun øver foran kameraet og oppfordrer sine fans til å vise hvordan de selv øver. Dessuten spiller hun gratiskonserter for småbarnsforeldre (Bring Your Own Baby) i yogastudioer og strikkegrupper. Sammen med youtuberne fra TwoSet Violin har hun opptrådt i et nummer der de spiller Nicolò Paganinis 24 kapriser for solofiolin mens de holder rokkeringer snurrende rundt kroppen.

Hun har en stor forkjærlighet for Johann Sebastian Bach og har helt fra åtteårsalderen spilt soloverkene hans daglig hjemme. Hennes første plate inneholdt Bachs partitaer for solofiolin. Siden har hun spilt inn hans konserter og sonater samt verk for fiolin og stemme.

Kilde: Store norske leksikon

"The information I've come across about him as a person to me seems very flat. I can't really imagine him as the person because the music says one thing. And then he had a gazillion kids, and he wrote so much music, and he had these church and court connections. And he was an organist. I mean, in a way, it's too much information to reconcile. It feels like it points me in so many different directions, I can't figure out who he was when he was writing this piece versus who he was when he was writing that, and who was he in his jobs, and, you know, what was he like when he showed up at work? Did he, you know, practice a lot, or did he just kind of wing it? I don't know. You know, did he powder his wag himself? What kind of wig? Where did he get it? I don't know. So, you know, there are all these things you could go into if you're trying to understand someone's life. But even for contemporary composers, I don't feel like we know very much about them. And I think what we try to read into someone through their music or through their writing about the music may not be actually what the full truth is.

You know, when people write about their work, they rarely even know how it came about. They just have to write something. And so they write to the best of their knowledge, what led them to do that thing? But who really knows for sure? So, I try not to make too many assumptions based on his music or based on the biographical facts that I do know. But I think his mind had to be really incredible to do what he did with the music that he wrote.

He wrote such variety for so many instruments, and it was such a different time from what we're in now. Yet the complexity of the pieces I know the best, which are these solo works, their complexity and their use of dissonance and resolution as a dramatic structure and a storytelling structure is really progressive. I don't actually see that even in contemporary music very much. So, I don't know where he was getting it, or where he was going with it, or how he was compelled to do it, or anything. But I just know that that really is engrossing and it draws everyone in. I think that's why this music really works in so many different circumstances, because he created this drama. It's just embedded in the music and even though it sounds like baroque music, on the one hand, it really has all the grit and tension of more recent eras that were much more open about the struggle that they're trying to convey through music."

Kilde: In a conversation with host Brian McCreath on The Bach Hour, Hahn describes the endless creative possibilities in the composer's music for solo violin

When I realised the calming effect of Bach's music on my own family, I was inspired to create a playlist for anyone – of any age – looking to relax into timeless music that soothes the soul. 

TwoSet Violin

Australia's number one viral classical music duo, TwoSet Violin, are bringing their classical comedy into the concert hall! With over 70 million views and collaborations with superstars soloists such as Lang Lang and Hilary Hahn, it's fair to say Internet sensation Twoset Violin are taking the Classical World by storm!

Slik ble gutteduoen - som herjer viralt med 3,14 mill. abonnenter på Youtube 800 mill. digitale visninger - presentert på sin World Tour i 2017. Oslo konserthus var blant de lykkelig utvalgte stoppestedene. Disse gutta er blant de skarpe knivene i skuffen, de vet hva de snakker om, og de setter klassisk musikk på gaffelen og forsyner tilhøreren med lekent engasjement, entusiasme og kompetente observasjoner.