VINIL Deutsche Grammophon (DG) Daniel Hope: Spheres - Einaudi, Glass, Nyman, Part, Richter

2014

Daniel Hope - violin


Auerbach: 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano Op. 46: Adagio sognando, 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano Op. 46: Andante
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 1 No. 10 in E minor, BWV855 (arr. Olivier Fourès)
Baranowski: Musica universalis, Biafra
Einaudi: I Giorni, Passaggio
Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11
Glass, P: Echorus
Gundermann: Faust - Episode 2 - Nachspiel
Igudesman: Lento for violin, string orchestra and choir
Jenkins, K: The Armed Man: Benedictus
Nyman: Trysting Fields
Pärt: Fratres for Violin, Strings & Percussion
Prokofiev, G: Spheres
Richter, Max: Berlin By Overnight
Westhoff: Imitazione delle campane (from Sonate a Violino Solo, Sonata III


Ever-resourceful violinist Daniel Hope, with his "big, rich sound and a big, enquiring spirit" (Los Angeles Times), presents a mind-expanding selection of meditative and melodious "music of the spheres" from the 17th century to the 21st. Reflecting both otherworldly timelessness and the modern world. The album embraces Baroque, minimalism, chill-out and even cinema, ranging from Bach to Part, Glass, Nyman and Einaudi. The multi-Grammy-winning Berlin Radio Chorus joins Hope in pieces by Faure and Karl Jenkins.

For as long as mankind has gazed up into the night sky at the stars and planets following their ordained course, the imagination has been set free. In ancient days, people spoke of "music of the spheres," ghostly sounds that were long thought to have been created by the planetary bodies brushing past each other. The music they made was ehtereal and, quite literally, otherworldly.

"I've been fascinated for a long time by this idea of 'spherical music' and by the philosophies, mathematicians and musicians who expounded their theory of musica universalis over the centuries," explains Hope. "It started with Pythagoras and extended to some of those extraordinary German thinkers such as Johannes Kepler who were convinced that music was created when planets move or collide, and that music had a mathematical foundation, a kind of astronimal harmony. I thought it was significant that these were brilliant scientists and mathematicians, not just soothsayers. My aim was to make an album touching on this sublime theme, while also discovering what composers nowadays might write when thinking in this context.


BBC Music Magazine:
"I've always admired Daniel Hope for his determination to follow an unfashionable path . . . Pärt's "Fratres" emerges as the craggy masterwork it truly is, and the works by German Baroque composer Johann von Westhoff and Philip Glass are engaging . . . My star ratings salute Hope's determination to wring every drop of expressivity from the music . . . and the glowing recording sound."


Audiophile Audition:
"Sort of an easy-listening new age recital, and totally lovely. Daniel Hope is a very fine violinist . . . This is all delightfully restful, pretty and nearly meditative stuff . . . one of the greatest pleasures in this beautiful collection is the many moments of discovery . . . The performances here are all just wonderful . . . beautiful, languid playing . . . Eighteen fairly short, very pretty and occasionally attention-getting miniatures form a nearly seamless mélange of tranquility. I enjoyed this a great deal. This may be my favorite Daniel Hope album. You can just put this on, sit back and enjoy. All music should strive for this."


Business Times:
"Spheres is coherent, inspired and champions new music . . . This is serious stuff. The fact that you can fall in love with the pieces on your very first listen is just a bonus . . . The piece that most effectively bridges the worlds of old and modern classical music; of inaccessibly cerebral tunes and universally beautiful fare is Arvo Pärt's "Fratres" . . . [the Rundfunkchor Berlin] sound glorious, as one would expect. On paper, some of the pieces seem unlikely bedfellows but Hope draws them deftly together and weaves his very own music of the spheres."