There’s something exhilarating about the arrival of Paris from violinist Hilary Hahn (website). It’s an all-out big budget classical music release from a major label, Deutsche Grammophon, that sounds like it was put out by some small, independent audiophile label. We’re talking a 2-LP 45RPM set on 180g vinyl, absolutely glowing sound quality, lavish gatefold packaging and that unmistakable feeling of glamour, as if classical music is finally making a comeback in the US. I bought this almost on a whim. I have some unexpectedly sophisticated phono preamplifiers in for review from Pass Labs (the XP-27), Allnic Audio (H-5500) and Brinkmann (Edison Mk. 2), and I just wanted to buy some killer new vinyl. Paris from Hilary Hahn stood out on one site’s New Release section–was this a remaster? This looks like an all-out big budget classical music release from a major label. That’s not possibly, is it? Why it is! This is a new release from Hilary Hahn. 2021’s right on the back cover. Hmmm, I thought. Interesting. And then I almost moved on until I caught something on the front cover: Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1. That’s my favorite violin concerto of all time, but I primarily know […]
