Her tone is rich and beautiful, never losing its beauty in double and triple stops. Her technique is astonishing without being the primary focus at any given moment. She is exceptionally lyrical in legato, and she has the ability to maintain a through line in every movement, which gives unity to music that can easily seem episodic or even disjointed.

Hahn’s unique qualities – her rich, pulsing tone, her technical mastery, her unabashed confidence, her imagination and her ability to present the music as freshminted (she seems to have located a hotline to Ysaÿe’s muse) – inclines me towards her recording as the finest currently available.

Her thoughtful new recording of these works by her own ‘grand-teacher’ (via Jascha Brodsky) clearly shows the influence and legacy of Ysaÿe’s artistry...We are not short of stellar violinists today, but even among such a crowded field Hahn’s Ysaÿe truly stands out. I can only chalk it up to the direct transmission of his legacy and musical approach to her, and her enthusiasm and commitment in embracing that style.

There is no shortage of wonderful recordings of Eugène Ysaÿe’s six homages, but the American violinist Hahn instantly joins the top tier with this superb disc. She is thrillingly alive to every quotation, interpolation and instance of devotion and admiration in the Belgian’s 1923 works…Stunning.

Hahn has fully achieved her goal of playing Eugène Ysaÿe’s technically demanding sonatas in the spirit of the composer while remaining true to herself. The American violinist plays the sonatas of the most renowned representative of the école franco-belge with great dynamic range and a masterful treatment of the textures, thus achieving captivating recordings of great intensity.