Hilary Hahn – Eclipse (UHQCD)

With „Eclipse,” three-time Grammy winner Hilary Hahn returns to the big stage after an artistic hiatus. Together with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and its principal conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, she devotes herself to the violin concertos of Dvořák and Ginastera as well as Sarasate’s virtuoso Carmen Fantasy. Recorded in 2021 at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the listener senses in the powerful and emotional playing the artist’s blossoming and the next step in her musical development.

„Hahn (…) takes the opportunity to shine in Technicolor colors. In the Dvořák, she never loses drive, logically defining the work by rhythmic impulse, yet allowing herself a lean, warm tone. The Sarasate is wild, wanton freestyle to the finale. Before that, she already lets the tiger out of the violin case with Ginastera. In his dissolute cadenzas, she succeeds in a petulant brusqueness of an elegant kind that drives one to listen.” (Fono Forum)

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

Antonín Dvořák

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op.53

1. I. Allegro ma non troppo

2. II. Adagio, ma non troppo

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

Alberto Ginastera

Violin Concerto, Op. 30

4. Ia. Cadenza

5. Ib. Studio I – Per gli accordi. Allegro

6. Ic. Studio II – Per le terze. Allegretto

7. Id. Studio Iii – Per gli altri intervalli. Lo stesso tempo

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

9. If. Studio V – Per gli armonici. Andante

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

11. Ih. Coda. Maestoso

12. II. Adagio per 22 solisti

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

14. IIIb. Perpetuum mobile. Agitato ed allucinante

Pablo De Sarasate

Carmen Concert Fantasy, Op. 25

15. Introduction. Allegro moderato

16. 1. Moderato

17. 2. Lento assai

18. 3. Allegro moderato

19. 4. Moderato

Format	UHQCD
Gen muzical	Muzică clasică