Hilary Hahn - V. Williams 'The Lark Ascending'

Hilary Hahn performs The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams at the George Enescu Festival.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights for this material, I just want to share great music by great performances. However, if anyone has a problem with this video do feel free to tell me and I will delete it immediately. Otherwise, enjoy!

[keithpetersen]

This has always been my favorite piece. I am 71 now and losing my hearing, and can't hear the high notes any more, but I still listen to this, and will until I can no longer hear it at all. It's beauty if beyond description. Ms. Hahn is stupendous.

[craigjohnson]

Soon after Hilary began her solo violin career, I heard her give an NPR interview. At that time she had just performed this piece with the St Martins in the Fields. A group of older men politely asked Hilary, "Have you ever seen a lark? A lark ascending?" Her answer was no. So, one day when no rehearsing nor performing was scheduled, they took her to a hillside field and she saw a lark ascending. She said in the interview that that experience influenced her performance. Larks ascend like our birds of prey ascend, only larks nest in meadows, not in trees. Take off is slow and low, flying in circles until an updraft is captured under their wings and then up to the highest hieghts.

[silverback]

Decades ago, as an ICU nurse, I had a terminal, comatose patient who happened to have been a concert violinist.
Over the span of night shifts when she was under my care I witnessed the indignity of edema, the growing forest of IV poles and pumps, the continuous ventilator noises, the steady decline and loss of her humanity despite or because of every measure the Intensivists inflicted on her...
I would speak to her as I went about her care, speaking of her son, of the worthwhile life she had lived, of the beauty she brought to so many, and on occasion reassuring her that it's okay to let go...
One evening I played this ineffably beautiful piece for her, in honor of her...knowing that some aspect of her soul might soar.
The next evening her room was empty. She had passed a few hours after my shift ended.

I have instructed my kin to play this at my funeral. It still brings tears to my eyes and is so beautifully symbolic of the flight of the soul freed from the gravity of the earth.

God bless RVH for bequething this to humanity.

[markosborne]

After 50 years of listening to rock, blues and jazz, at the age of 62 I am being drawn to the classics. It’s like……..hearing music for the first time again. Beautiful stunning delicate piece. Wonderful.

[trendybistro]

I don't know how the supporting musicians aren't teary eyed by the time they have to start playing, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.

[auntfanny]

As long as there is music like this and people who want to listen to it, there is hope for us.

[PlayItAgainLouder]

Nearly 4 years ago I took my son to see Hilary Hahn perform with the Dallas Metropolitan Orchestra for his 21st birthday present. We had eye-level 7th row center seats. Although they didn’t perform this piece, every note from her violin was magical. Every time I glanced at my son or he looked at me, tears covered his face. A night neither of us will ever forget.

[sassylittleprophet]

I read some of the comments about "Hillary Hahn should smile more often/not look so serious."

I don't know about her, but as a musician who has also been told this before a LOT: I don't play to smile. When I am playing I am focused on the emotion, passion, and story of the song, I am not thinking about whether I'm smiling or not, I am immersed in the music -- as I should be.

If y'all have a problem because she doesn't smile enough for you, watch someone else. But don't criticise her for her expression when she performs.

[JoanMercer-nr]

Now in my 94 year and hearing for the first time Hilary Hahn in Lark Ascending, absolutely superb, bringing such a lovely piece of human feeling for the natural world into our very troubled world!

[ViolinTeacher]

What is SO refreshing about this artist is that there is not one ounce of pretense in her performance. No affectations of the 'self' imposed in her interpretation. Every movement she makes is pure efficiency in honor of the music. I really appreciate that. She provides a noble example for us all to emulate.

[martinforrester]

I am an oldtimer Englishman from Shropshire who has lived in the countryside all of my life. The Lark is a birdsong I have listened to in early Spring forever, blessed eh ?

[writereducator]

This piece, not just the solo but the whole orchestra, is heartbreakingly beautiful. How can such beauty possibly exist?

[pgsahlman]

Oh my goodness what a miraculous, transparent performance. Hilary Hahn is such an unprecedented vehicle for the composer's wishes. In a world of ego-driven soloists, she stands alone as a beacon of selflessness. Bless her and her artistry.

[linxu]

Shared this with my five-year-old, her comment, “she is like a dancing rose.” 🌹

[arnoldronning]

Oh! The orchestra deserves recognition for such an ideal accompaniment.

[jude]

When I die, this is the only music I want played at my funeral.

[stephanlarsson]

Many years ago, my wife and I went to a chamber orchestra concert in an ancient church near Reeth in the Yorkshire Dales. The conductor told the story of a talented, beautiful Australian violinist who came to the UK on a years sabbatical with the chamber orchestra. Her favourite pice of music was The Lark Ascending. Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve she went down with influenza and on New Yearks Eve she died of multiple organ failure. Ther played this in her honour and remembrance.

[jacquieharris]

I often yearn for the halcyon days of my youth, when all was right with the world. This stunning interpretation by Hahn nearly takes me there.

[srlucado]

On November 9th, 2017, I had to put my dog to sleep. She was very young, but had fatal kidney disease.
When I got home from the vet, I played some music and one of the first pieces was "The Lark Ascending".
Hearing it, all I could think of was my poor dog's soul, rising up to doggie heaven.

Ever since then, this piece has a whole different, and intensely emotional, meaning for me.
Beautiful performance.

[leslieackerman]

Ralph Vaughan-Williams, deserving of being one of the best composers in history.