Hope triumphs with Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko

Daniel Hope gave two critically acclaimed performances of the Elgar Violin Concerto in December 2009 with the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Vasily Petrenko. It was Hope's second visit to Oslo with the orchestra. The reviews are unequivocal. Here is a selection from Oslo's two leading newspapers:


Aftenposten, Oslo, 7th December 2009

"Vasily Petrenko and Daniel Hope delivered nothing less than a gorgeous concert this week..............The work is incredibly demanding for both soloist and orchestra.  However, Daniel Hope is a suitably brilliant performer and interpreter.  The way he forced this 50-minute long musical development into one single stretch without even one uninteresting minute is nothing short of miraculous.......

Hope could gather the entire British Commonwealth in one sul tasto, and his phrasing superiorly unfolded the special, heroic, and nostalgic feeling of life......Indeed, had George V known that a speech of such rhetorical power awaited him in 2009, he would have kept himself alive until this day.  The Cadenza, like the irreversible beginning of the Empire’s sunset, was an epitaph worthy of a king.



Dagbladet, Oslo, 4th December 2009

"POWERFUL"    Daniel Hope  – A splendid performer

The violinist Daniel Hope has a remarkably intense sound.  Last night he played Elgar with the Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko conducting.

It turned into a meeting of minds, with Hope who, to put it mildly, extracted the most of what Elgar had put into the score and, in the process, highlighted some of the more problematic moments in the violin concerto too.......Hope was completely unaffected by this and merely unfolded the palette.....the entire journey from the opening movement to the work’s most beautiful section, unquestionably the slow second movement, we heard a Hope who played without compromise.  

The slow and powerfully expressive parts of the concerto showed us a violinist with especially remarkable qualities.  The varied and nuanced playing extracted the finest register in the music – luminously clear and without any reservation.