For those not in the classical know, the delightful Hilary Hahn is an American violinist who, in her active international career, has performed throughout the world both as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors and as a recitalist. She also has built a reputation for championing contemporary music. Several composers have written works specially for her, including concerti by Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon. Trust me, she is a BIG deal within the classical world.

After her last two albums of completely new compositions, Silfra and In 27 Pieces The Hilary Hahn Encores, Hilary returns with classic-romantic repertoire, Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 Violin Concertos. Indeed, here on her wonderful new album, the two-times Grammy Award-winning violinist now combines Mozart's beloved Concerto in A, K 219 with its fiery Turkish episode with the rich, virtuosic romanticism of Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 4.

A huge undertaking, as you can imagine, and yet (as one would always expect from Hahn) she nails it time and time again. However, that may well be because these works are not unknown to Hahn. She has fully admitted that Mozart 5 and Vieuxtemps 4 are "part of" her, and that they remind her of the "rich legacy of classical music and of the wonderful continuity of tradition" within the classical field.

As timeless as they could possibly be, Hahn's take on Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 Violin Concertos is flawlessly executed, the quality of the actual recording superb. Nothing short of a rich, dynamic set of orchestrations and a clear recording of Hilary's finesse, the cadenzas in the Mozart works are particularly nice. The Vieuxtemps is just as amazing and one of my all time favorite violin concertos. It is flashy piece, showing off fun violin technique and yet is musical at the same time.

Hilary really has a knack for picking great pieces to put on the same recording. Indeed, if you are looking for other superb works of Hahn's you could do no better than both her 2005 recording of Mozart Violin Sonatas with Natalie Zhu (just superb), as was her 2003 recording of Bach Violin Concertos.

www.HilaryHahn.com