Daniel Hope Plays Mendelssohn

Felix [1] Mendelssohn (Composer), Thomas Hengelbrock (Conductor), Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Orchestra), Sebastian Knauer (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Sebastian Knauer
• Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe
• Conductor: Thomas Hengelbrock
• Composer: Felix [1] Mendelssohn
• Audio CD (January 22, 2008)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000SKF7AA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,304 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Mendelssohn's beautiful Violin Concerto--a work that fascinated the 6-year-old Daniel Hope in his early days of learning the violin. Though the teachers at his musical boarding school outside London forbade him from playing a piece they deemed too difficult for a child, Hope couldn't resist. He secretly practiced Mendelssohn in the bathroom until caught by his teachers, who summoned Hope's parents. They rushed to the school, having been told that their son had done something very bad-- only to learn that the crime was Mendelssohn! Daniel Hope never lost his fascination with the Concerto, and ever since it has accompanied him throughout his career as one of today's most successful violinists. Now he has finally recorded it, but not in the version that usually is played in the concert hall. For his DG debut Hope has chosen the "Urtext" version that he discovered through the Mendelssohn expert Larry Todd. The first version that Mendelssohn wrote was considerably revised according to the wishes of the violinist Ferdinand David for whom the concerto was originally composed. Now Hope has unearthed the first version from 1844 that still has all the elements that make this piece a hit but at the same time is much more passionate and vivid according to Hope. Fantastically enough, the "Urtext" version on DG is a world-premiere recording! Also on Hope's debut album is Mendelssohn's wonderful Octet in E-flat major--the composer's first significant work which he wrote when he was only 16-years old, but which nevertheless already carries the handwriting of the musical genius. The piece is a favorite of Daniel Hope, who has been a member of the Grammy®-nominated Beaux Arts Trio since 2002 and is a true lover of chamber music. What's more, Hope has written his own arrangements for the violin and piano (Sebastian Knauer) of three of Mendelssohn's glorious Lieder which further enhance this album. Just as the Violin Concerto and Octet represent two very different stages in Mendelssohn's life and artistic development, "On Wings of Song," "Suleika" and "Witches' Song" stem from a time when Mendelssohn was entering a new phase in his life, leaving Düsseldorf to become the music director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig where he would achieve arguably his greatest success.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The original Mendelssohn Concerto is no longer a warhorse, January 22, 2008

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Daniel Hope Plays Mendelssohn (Audio CD)

As the product description says, this is a different Mendelssohn Violin Cto., taken from the composer's origianl intentions in 1844. The solo line tosses a few surprises our way, but to quote the Gramophone, "Many of the changes are subtle - the most obvious are octave transpositions and a shorter first-movement cadenza." The accompaniment remains on the whole unchanged, and even experienced listeners might mark down the changes in the solo part of a quirk of Hope's. Although a bit less graciously written for the instrument, the original version isn't inferior. Hope, who plays wtih urgency here, has unearthed a minor gem that every lover of this music will be delighted by.

The Octet is given a similarly quick, raw treatment, very much outside the salon and into the open air. I heard Hope in chamber music in Santa Fe last summer, and Hope like his mentor Yehudi Menuhin, shnes in a group. He's a remarkable combinaiton of thinker and virtuoso. As a member of the Beaux Art Trio for five years, he's also well versed in how to balance chaamber music. There's a marked lack of vibrato, nodding toward period style, which helps clarify the separate strands of all eight voices. My only reservation is that the playing gets so aggressive and nervy that some of the work's fairy charm is muffled. The CD is filled out with three song arrangement for violin that Hope uses to showcase his dramatic abilty to imitate the human voice.

DG's engineering is bright and detailed to the point of seeming like a x-ray, which is in keeping with the forcefulness of the musicmaking. Even with a few quibbles, Hope's debut on DG is impressive.