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The Daniel Hope Collection
CD 1
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Violin Concerto No.1 in A Minor BWV 1041 (1717-23) [13:08]
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Concerto for violin and piano in D major, K.App.56/K315f: Allegro [12:18]
Camerata Salzburg/Roger Norrington
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 II Andante con molto tranquillo (1839) [7:44]
Beaux Arts Trio
John FOULDS (1880-1939)
Apotheosis (Elegy) - Music Poem No. 4 for violin and orchestra Op. 18 (1907)  [11:18]
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo
Alban BERG (1885-1935)
Violin Concerto Part I: Andante - Allegretto (1935) [12:01]
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Paul Watkins
BELA BARTÓK (1881-1945)
Romanian Folk Dances, Sz56 (arr. Zoltán Székely) [6:42]
Sebastian Knauer (piano)
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Violin Concerto No. 1, II Scherzo: Allegro  - Opus 77 (99) (1948-55) [6:40]
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Maxim Shostakovich
Romance from The Gadfly, op.97 (arr. Levon Atovmian) (1955) [5:56]
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Maxim Shostakovich
CD 2
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Concerto for two violins in D minor, : II Largo ma non tanto BWV 1043 (1717-23) [6:23]
Marieke Blankestijn (violin) Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Violin Sonata No.27 in G major, K379 (K373a): II Thema con variazione (1781) [10:13]
Sebastian Knauer (piano)
Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, Dumky, B 166;  I Lento maestoso - Allegro vivace, quasi doppio movimento - Tempo I - Allegro molto (1891) [4:47]
Beaux Arts Trio
Manuel de FALLA (1876-1946)/Paul KOCHANSKI (1887-1934)
Suite populaire espagnole arranged by Pavel Kochanski [13:13]
Sebastian Knauer (piano)
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
Tzigane (original version) (1924) [10:38]
Sebastian Knauer (luthéal)
Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-76)
Violin Concerto Op.15: I Moderato con moto - Agitato - Tempo primo (1938-9) [10:49]
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Paul Watkins
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Violin Concerto No.2 in C sharp minor, Op.129: II Adagio (1967) [10:16]
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Maxim Shostakovich
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67: II Allegro con brio (1944) [2:57]
Beaux Arts Trio
Alfred SCHNITTKE (1934-1998)
Sonata 1955 for violin and piano: II Andante [5:24]
Sebastian Knauer (piano)
Ravi SHANKAR (b.1920)
Swara-Kakali (based on Raga Tilang): Aochar (Introduction) [2:26]
Daniel Hope (violin) with accompanists as above
WARNER CLASSICS 2564690730 [75:45 + 77:05]

This is a compilation twofer with rather more meat on the bones than others of its ilk. Since Daniel Hope has been deemed worthy of the Warner treatment the company has ensured that the two discs are not too short-winded, albeit they can’t help but be bitty given that they are largely single movements extracted from concerto and chamber works. As a purview of Hope’s courageous and enterprising work in the studios however it fits the bill well. It encourages, one hopes, investigation of the ‘real thing’ or at least titillates one with rarities such as the Foulds, things that could easily be overlooked since Hope doesn’t carry the greatest burden of responsibility on the particular disc from which Apotheosis was extracted.

What follows is an overview. Considerations as to the status of the performances in the current market are obviously less pressing.  The first disc starts with an entrée of Bach, in the shape of the Concerto in A Minor, heard unusually here in a complete performance. I can’t feel much admiration for it though – it’s quite brisk in the modern manner but somewhat hectoring and just a bit mannered in certain places. The slow movement left me cold. There’s an unusual Mozart concerto movement mit Herr Professor senza vibrato Norrington – an ingenious piece of work (Mozart not Norrington). This is followed by one of the Beaux Arts performances, of the slow movement from Mendelssohn’s Op 49, pastelly played. Foulds’s work is an example of Hope’s exploration of lesser known British repertoire and this elegy for Joachim is conspicuously well played. Stronger stuff follows – a movement from the Berg concerto with Paul Watkins which was Hope’s debut disc for Warner.  The full set of Bartók’s Romanian Dances are here – some plangent and striking diminuendi – and Shostakovich finishes off the first disc, the composer’s son on hand in the A minor Concerto movement.

The second disc rather acts as a mirror to the first. So we open with the slow movement from Bach’s Double Concerto. The symmetry of programming means that I can reprise my dislike of Hope’s Bach. Some of the decorations are overdone. Another strong souvenir of colleague Sebastian Knauer arrives in the Mozart sonata movement, and then there is the Kochanski arranged de Falla Suite populaire espagnole (all of it) and a luthéal accompanied Tzigane. The Britten balances the Berg - they were both written a few years apart – and Shostakovich 2 takes us to its Adagio heart. The slither from the Op.67 Trio prefaces Schnittke’s bracing sonata of which we only get the slow movement. We end with Ravi Shankar, the first time in many years of writing here that I’ve written that name. The piece was written in memory of Hope’s mentor, Yehudi Menuhin.

In other words it’s a sampler. 

Jonathan Woolf 

 

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