Posted on: December 19, 2012 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

The New Yorker has proclaimed “Christmastime is Daniel Hope time in New York” as the violinist returns to the city this week to present Baroque treasures in guises both traditional and contemporary. Hope marks the recent release of his Deutsche Grammophon album Vivaldi Recomposed, which was named Best Classical Contemporary Album of 2012 by iTunes, by performing its bold reimagining of The Four Seasons by British minimalist Max Richter at the Greenwich Village club Le Poisson Rouge on December 19 and 20. In a more traditional vein, on December 22, the violinist joins the dynamic young Salomé Chamber Orchestra to play Bach concertos at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hope will play the concert on the “Baltic” Guarneri del Gesù of 1731, one of the great instruments of the Sau-Wing Lam Collection of Violins, selections of which are currently on view at the museum.

 

At Le Poisson Rouge on December 19 and 20, Hope will be performing Vivaldi Recomposed alongside Richter and Ensemble LPR, with the concert presented by Poisson Rouge in association with Wordless Music. Reviewing a recent performance of Vivaldi Recomposed at the Barbican in London, the Guardian newspaper enthused over the work’s fresh sound, saying: “The glacial string harmonics that surround Vivaldi’s pretty rococo melody in the slow movement of Winter turn it into something far richer and stranger than the original.” The review added that Hope’s solo violin part was “delivered with spirit.” Expressing his own enthusiasm for Richter’s work, the violinist said the composer has reimagined Vivaldi’s masterpiece “through 21st-century eyes and ears.” In addition, on December 18, Hope, Richter and Ensemble LPR will perform selections from the work at the SoHo Apple Store in New York at 7pm. The performance will also include a Q&A segment hosted by Jeff Spurgeon of radio station WQXR.

 

At the Met Museum on December 22, Hope will be the featured soloist in Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041, a work he recorded to acclaim on his all-Bach album released by Warner Classics in 2006. He will also be joining the Salomé Chamber Orchestra in performing Bach’s Triple Concerto in D Major, BWV 1064 and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. The “Baltic” Guarneri del Gesù of 1731 that Hope will be playing is part of the Sau-Wing Lam Collection of Violins, a selection of which will be on view in the Metropolitan Museum’s André Mertens Galleries for Musical Instruments from December 18, 2012 through June 30, 2013.

 

Directly preceding the concert with the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Hope will join the adventurous string quartet ETHEL at the ensemble’s weekly performance at the Met Museum’s Balcony Bar for Bartók duos, holiday tunes, and a surprise or two.

 

The next DG album from Hope, to be released in early 2013, is Spheres. The album’s repertoire celebrates the idea, first brought forward by Pythagoras, that planetary movement creates its own kind of music, a concept that has fascinated philosophers, musicians and mathematicians for centuries. The selections range from Bach and Fauré to Arvo Pärt, Michael Nyman, as well as up-and-coming composers who have written new works for Hope based on the idea of spherical music, or “musica universalis.” These include Gabriel Prokofiev, Ludovico Einaudi, Alex Baranowski and Aleksey Igudesman.

 

 

 

Dec 19-20

New York, NY

Le Poisson Rouge

Vivaldi Recomposed

Ensemble LPR / Max Richter

 

Dec  22

New York, NY

Metropolitan Museum of Art

All-Bach Concert

Violin Concerto in A minor

Triple Concerto in D major

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

Salomé Chamber Orchestra

 

 

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