10 years ago, in an ill-tempered article for the Berliner Zeitung, a music critic coined the term “cuddle classical.” It referred to musicians whose PR strategies tended towards the sweet and approachable; alongside the violinist Hilary Hahn, he named Janine Jansen, Baiba Skride, Leonidas Kavakos, and (of course) Lang Lang. I think he got Hahn, at least, all wrong. She is nice, which Europeans tend to mistake for a lack of depth. But she’s also well-spoken, clear, controlled, and firm. In a phone call from her tour of Europe with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mikko Frank, we talked about following U.S. politics from overseas, lesser-known works of Max Bruch, and why she’s staying loyal to her violin.
Adaptation
An interview with Hilary Hahn
