Amazing virtuosity
09/14/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I liked this CD. It is a welcome CD of this excellent violinist, where he shows his amazing abilities. The music of Hubay is appealing, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Barbbins nicly balances Hagai Shaham's excellent perfomance. The magazine Strad describes Shaham's performance on this CD as "Jaw Dropping," and it is that magazine's "pick of the month" for August 2003. Highly recommended."
Resplendent
David Saemann | 06/16/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Hagai Shaham has made something of a cause out of the violin music of Jeno Hubay, which here appears fully deserving of such advocacy. The music is suitably virtuosic but never showy. Hubay, unlike some other violinist-composers, writes beautifully and interestingly for orchestra. The purely orchestral moments of the Variations may remind you of Franz Liszt's symphonic poems. Overall, Hubay writes with taste, refinement, concision, admirable sense of structure, and engaging sonorities. The performances here are fully up to the material. Hagai Shaham is an engaging player with an excellent technique. He approaches these works with confidence and style. Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish Symphony are staples of Hyperion's concerto recordings, and here they are at their very best. The recorded sound, from a church in Edinburgh, is full and tonally appealing, some of the best I've heard from Hyperion. If you enjoy investigating the works of forgotten late Romantic composers, this is an excellent CD to add to your collection."