Performing Arts

AViolin Concertos. Swedish Radio Symphony, Salonen, Hahn (Deutsche Grammophon)

AT LAST: For the first time, a major star has tackled Schoenberg's infamous Violin Concerto, a masterpiece that conjures up the horrors of Europe under Nazism but so difficult most players are intimidated. Not Hilary Hahn, who attacks it with a fervent bravura very different from her usual Olympian coolness. You can hear that coolness in the other work here, the Sibelius concerto, with an accompaniment under Esa-Pekka Salonen that lacks something in atmosphere.

THE BEST: It's sensational to have this monumental piece played with such security and panache. And you can't accuse Mr. Salonen of over-manicuring the Schoenberg. If anything, the orchestral playing borders on the overwrought. Neither orchestra nor soloist downplays the aggressive dissonances, but they get the romanticism underneath, too.

BOTTOM LINE: Maybe this is the breakthrough that will clue audiences in on one of the very greatest concertos of the 20th century.

Lawson Taitte