Hilary Hahn will give her first San Francisco Performance recital since 2004 when she returns to Herbst Theatre on Saturday, February 19 for the second concert in the Virtuosi Series. Her accompanist will be her frequent collaborator, Valentina Lisitsa. They will open the program with the “Variations on a Theme of Corelli in the style of Tartini” by the early twentieth-century violin virtuoso, Fritz Kreisler. As can be seen from the Wikipedia page of his compositions, Kreisler built up quite a repertoire of these “in the style of” compositions, almost all of which have been falsely attributed to the composer whose style he was imitating! Since Kreisler both performed and recorded with Sergei Rachmaninoff, the theme is probably the same one that Rachmaninoff also attributed to Arcangelo Corelli and used for his own set of virtuoso piano variations (in his own inimitable style); and, while this theme was, indeed, used in Corelli’s Opus 5, Number 12 sonata, Corelli himself appropriated it from the popular “Folia” progression.
The remainder of Hahn’s program is far more secure in matters of attribution. She has arranged an intriguing balance of the traditional classicism of Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven with the spiky modernism of Charles Ives and George Antheil. The Kreisler variations will be followed by Beethoven’s fifth sonata in F major (“Spring”), which will be coupled with Ives’ fourth sonata (“Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting”). The remainder of the program will pair Bach’s first partita for solo violin in B minor (BWV 1002) with Antheil’s first sonata.
This duo recital will take place at 8 PM in Herbst Theatre on Saturday, February 19. Ticket prices are $75, $65, and $50. Tickets may be purchased through the event page on the San Francisco Performances Web site. They are also for sale over the phone at 415-392-2545.
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