Critics

 “Hu Kun, the world's renowned violinist made his Beijing conducting debut with nearly a hundred musicians. Under his baton, he performed the ‘world’s largest instrument’ […] orchestra with great enthusiasm and passion...”

“胡坤, 这位蜚声海内外的著名小提琴家第一次在北京“执棒”指挥近百人的乐团, 用指挥棒充满激情地“演奏”了“世界上最大的乐器”——乐队...”

— People’s Daily, Beijing 06/08/07

人民日报

“Already as a world's 1st class violinist, Hu Kun's name was strikingly appearing on the program as the conductor of Lin Yao Ji Virtuosi... winning a prize at the Sibelius Violin Competition back in 1980 was no less shocking for the Chinese than being the Olympic gold medalist.""

在节目单上, 早已跻身于国际一流小提琴演奏家行列胡坤的名字赫然写在林耀基精英室内乐团指挥的位址上. 胡坤6岁起随父亲学琴, 之后就在林耀基教授的指导下继续深造. 1980年, 胡坤在“芬兰西贝柳斯国际小提琴比赛”中获奖, 成为中国大陆第一位在国际大赛上的获奖者, 而他当年的获奖, 对中国音乐界的震撼程度决不亚于现在的奥运冠军”

— China Broadcasting Web, Beijing 13/06/10

中国广播网(北京)

“Hu Kun's conducting is full of charm! Tonight is my first time watching Hu Kun conducting, he has successfully transformed himself from a violin virtuoso to a fine conductor. Hu Kun has a great feeling towards music, this has shown in his conducting with strong authority, yet full of life and enthusiasm. A conductor on the stage is a performer and leader […] Hu Kun has shown great charisma as a conductor, able to lead the whole orchestra forward. I believe he will reach even further in the conducting fields.”

— Xiamen Financial Times, Zheng Xiao Yin, China 15/04/06

“An exciting performance, dazzling, with phrasing which is full and true, a swirling lyricism which gave brilliance and clarity to each note without losing any accent. Above all, a true charm, a beautiful feeling of melancholy and contemplation. Throughout he displays the unmistakable signs which characterise a great artist.”

— Le Monde, France 14/06/85

“He was followed by HU Kun, who attacked the Sibelius Concerto with great bravura. He had punch, technique, brio, strength-a most impressive assembly of talents.”

–– Quotidien de Paris, France

“There are a few people who can play violin well, but they don't have a sense of style - and HU does.” 

— Yehudi Menuhin, London Evening Standard 22/02/98

“One of the most individual string players to burst onto the scene in recent years is the Chinese-born musician, HU Kun, his recording contract with Nimbus having established him among the finest of the younger generation of violinist.” 

“HU Kun takes an introverted view of many passages in the first movement. This is a spacious reading and you have the feeling he loves every note......” (Sibelius Concerto)

“While there are several available recordings of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1, notably those by Perlman, Mintz and Stern, this performance by Hu Kun displays a great appeal in its freshness of approach...”

“HU Kun made a name for himself as the first Chinese violinist to be placed at an international competition. East meets West with his choice of accompanist in this new release…The two performer are well matched: fast fingers, a penchant for resonance and large phrases prove that they see eye-to-eye on interpretation.”

“Throughout the evening Kun's playing showed considerable fluency and technical control. Intonation and attack were unfailingly accurate even in the most florid passages, and in the Faure and Prokofiev he showed an unusual ability to think through the long phrases...Kun seemed to have an instinctive grasp of principles of Faure's endless melody...(and)of the self-effacement, the absence of display for its own sake, which made his playing so attractive.”

— The Strad, London

“Hu Kun's playing is full of poignant persuasion...Kun is quick-witted and charming; his easy grace and sweet but never cloying tone are a real boon... ‘Agathon’ (seven of Bernstein's most poised and effecting minutes), how discreetly Kun plays them...how eloquently he yields to the muted viola and cello duo... withdrawing his tone to the merest thread of sound...The half shades are lovely, so fragile”

–– Gramophone, London 06/92

“Hu Kun at his home in London (photo) [...] Chinese musicians, especially violinists, are establishing an increasingly high profile on the Western concert scene...”

“…with Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No 1 English String Orchestra conducted by Yehudi Menuhin […] Nimbus’ all Prokofiev disk has other strengths, including the introduction of a 26-year-old Chinese violinist on the brink of a major career. Hu Kun plays with technical assurance, a light but penetrating tone and dead-center intonation”

— The New York Times / International Herald Tribune, USA

“Still a young man, HU Kun is one of the worlds’ greatest violin virtuoso, a legend in China and a living chapter of music history. He was the first person from mainland China to win a prize at the international violin competition, signalling in the west and indeed around the world that the ancient country possesses a huge reserve of music talent which the Cultural Revolution did not destroy.”

— Royal Academy of Music, London

“Chinese-born Hu Kun – a protégé of Yehudi Menuhin—plays it with clear-cut rhythmic precision and a rich variety of tone, including pianissimos of astonishing clarity and solidity. Leonard Bernstein's increasingly popular 1956 Serenade...is given a lively, strongly profiled reading by HU."

–– Los Angeles Times, USA 14/06/92

“Increasingly too, performers from mainland China are being heard worldwide - and carrying off major prizes. Violinists seem particularly favoured: Hu Kun, born 1963 and a graduate of the Peking Conservatoire, won the Francescatti and the International Sibelius competitions, and has recently recorded Alun Hoddinott's Heaventree of Stars for Nimbus Records […] Artistically, Kun thinks that his experience as an erhu player has added to the style and depth of his work, bridging East and West.”

— The Independent, London, 13/02/93

“…the appearance of the young Chinese Violinist had to be the highlight of the concert […] demonstrated the kind of technique that is fast bringing him recognition in musical circles […] brought an astonishing strength to his performance […] Kun floated some ravishing pianissimo passages and demonstrated some passionate solo work throughout the Lalo piece (Symphonie Espagole)”

–– Dayton Daily News, USA 15/10/92

“Wow! A new concert superstar. Wow! is the only response to the unbelievable technique of this brilliant young virtuoso, who echoes the great Jascha Heifetz in his command of pyrotechnics. But display is only a part of HU Kun's artistry. The melting beauty of his playing of music of romantic lyricism is just as breathtaking. The world has a new concert superstar.”

–– The Natal Mercury, Durban

“World-class firecracker. The second world-class violinist in two days!...After Oistrakh's cool palette on Sunday evening, HU Kun’s came like a veritable firecracker. No sign here of the inscrutable Oriental facade; no, we had a firebrand up here.”

— The Argus, Cape Town

“Hu Kun...has a wonderful bow-arm, an impeccable technique, and fluent virtuosity; in addition he generates genuine excitement, a sort of natural skill which enables him to give all he has into the finale of the Sibelius Concerto. It is he who, in my opinion, is the most complete musician of the competition.”

— Le Figaro, Paris 19/09/85

“HU Kun proved that his violin playing is immaculate...This great talent, promoted by Menuhin, was until now hidden to us...He is a young artist who deserves the highest attention; he proved that he is not a careless adventurer, that he united a youthful ardour with a remarkable maturity in his interpretation.”

— Leipziger Tagblatt, Leipzig (debut)

“The intricately bowed work which demands extraordinary technical ability from the soloist was masterfully performed by Hu Kun with silvery, sensitive intonation.”

–– Berliner Morgenpost, Berlin (debut)

“...the Chinese violinist HU Kun gave a brilliant performance of the immensely difficult concerto for violin and orchestra in D minor Op 47 by Jean Sibelius. His technique was perfect - precise in the high register and in the tricky double stop”

— Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin

“The young Chinese virtuoso, Hu Kun played the Mozart so beautifully that it left nothing to be desired. Every note proclaimed a master and the shout of Bravo were well deserved.”

–– Helsinki Sanomat, Finland 10/03/88

“HU Kun, bringing to these hybrids the tonal resources of the 1734 Habeneck Strad as well as full command of expressive effects, reconciles East and West… Kun’s generous program of fresh, expressive, and technically dazzling violin-playing should have universal appeal.”

— Fanfare, USA

“It served too as a soothing preface to the Brahms Concerto in a splendid performance by Chinese violinist HU Kun . The majestic first movement was masterfully sustained, rhapsodic, and mercurial but with a sweet and tender lyricism. HU is a powerful player and, after an adagio of artless melody strongly supported by the woodwinds, gave a robustly exhilarating account of the ‘Gypsy’ Allegro Giocoso.”

— The Herald, Glasgow

“Hu Kun, conducting with Enescu’s own baton, brought clarity of line and spaciousness to the first movement, then revealed in the highly complex contrapuntal fugal scoring of the second movement that acts as a massive developmental section together with the exquisitely nuanced third movement. The waltz ending, simultaneously French and Enescian, showed powerful thoughts held under purposeful restraint through magnificently projected playing which allowed individual voices to integrate seamlessly into the whole.”

“胡坤, 挥着安耐斯库的指挥棍, 将第一乐章的线条清晰而舒展的勾画出来, 接着又用第二乐章极端复杂的赋格对位, 演变成庞大的发展部并与第三乐章的细腻有色精美结合. 终曲的圆舞曲, 法国与安耐斯库共存, 有意展示出了节制而又大胆的思维想象, 并采用光芒四射的演奏将各声部天衣无缝地揉成一体.”

— MusicWeb International (Hu Kun conducting London Schubert Players) - Purcell Room, London 18/02/06

国际音乐网站 (胡坤指挥 / 伦敦舒伯特乐团 / 独奏家; 普塞尔音乐厅,伦敦)

“The world famous violin maestro and conductor Lord Yehudi Menuhin with his favorite pupil HU Kun gave two successful concerts with China National Symphony Orchestra at Beijing Concert hall on the 16, 17 Oct 1997. Maestro's first hand Elgar B minor Concerto, displayed HU Kun's highly virtuosi and deep mature artistic quality in full. Regardless whether it is in the trickiest passages of the cadenza or in the pure poetic lyrical phrases, HU Kun is able to use his rich and colourful sound, strong contrasted emotions and yet, brought out the smallest details with flawless artistry. No need of convincing. The audience has responded with some very warm applause which brought him back on stage three times!”

— Music Weekly, Beijing