Read my review today on the Washington Post Web site:
Charles T. Downey, Virtuoso Makes Striking Terrace DebutWashington Post, October 7, 2009
The Young Concert Artists series presented an extraordinary recital by Korean violinist Hahn-Bin on Monday night at the Terrace Theater. The former child prodigy, now a mohawk-sporting 22-year-old identified only by his given name, is fresh out of Juilliard, where he studied with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho. As if to present his bona fides as a serious artist, his Kennedy Center debut program drew unexpected connections between little-heard modern works and a few older pieces.Hahn-Bin (violin) and John Blacklow (piano)
The violinist established his virtuoso credentials with an astonishingly cool rendering of Fritz Kreisler's ferociously difficult "Recitativo and Scherzo," dashing off tangled webs of multiple stops without any hesitation or struggle. Equally striking was the broad, lustrous tone that Hahn-Bin was able to draw forth from his 1825 Pressenda violin -- the same one that he famously left in a New York taxi this summer. His legato line, heard most prominently in Nathan Milstein's arrangement of a Chopin nocturne, could have been more mellifluous and seamless and the intonation more true. [Continue reading]
Young Concert Artists Series
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Last weekend he also gave a short recital and master class at the Levine School. He played a few of his KC recital pieces, as well as some others in a much smaller setting that was well attended.
ReplyDeleteIn the master class, he gave some excellent advice in an soft spoken, unassuming and utterly giving manner. And he had some interesting comments about his career choices, life at Julliard and his approaches to performing.