/ discography at a glance

At last, Elgar's Violin Sonata (1918) has some high-power advocates. Kennedy, Midori, and Maxim Vengerov are some of the young superstar violinists who have recorded this beautiful yet elusive work. And Daniel Hope's Nimbus recording can stand with the best of them.

He has a big, bold, firmly focused sound, yet he can play with breathtaking delicacy – a necessary quality to make the most of the haunted, haunting slow movement. William Walton's Violin Sonata (1949) is a clever coupling. Walton's music is more cosmopolitan, with an odd kind of lyricism that can sting as well as soothe. Hope emphasizes the music's intimate qualities, aided admirably by pianist Simon Mulligan (although one wishes the piano didn't sound quite so recessed). In between the Elgar and Walton is a sweetly sad Elegy (1940) by Gerald Finzi.

This CD is a musical Anglophile's delight – a recital to savor over and over again.

Andrew Farach-Colton

The strongest musical impression amongst the young violinists of today is unquestionably made by Daniel Hope. He possesses the greatest range of creative ideas, the most varied vibrato and in addition, he radiates a compelling interpretative authority. After two CD releases featuring modern music he now turns his attention to British repertoire... Hope's commitment to Elgar's nobel and impassioned language, Finzi's dreamlike, always searching tonality and Walton's elegance and single-minded direction is far more than effect, and is, in every phrase, totally convincing.

Whoever performs English music, like the fantastic young violinist Daniel Hope has chosen to do, he or she does well to do it with heart and soul, so that the listener has no way of picking at the eccentricities of the music.

Daniel Hope, student of Menuhin and Zakhar Bron, and currently enjoying high profile on the international CD-scene with Schnittke, Takemitsu, Shostakovich or Weill, goes even further: he gives a thoroughly convincing, unashamedly romantic, yet at the same time deeply reflective summation on the music of his native country (Elgar, Finzi and Walton); with varied range of tone-colour and a glowing inner expressiveness... William Walton's Sonata is a kaleidoscope, whose patterns change on every hearing. Hope und Simon Mulligan (piano) play them in such a way, that dreamy lyricism and threatening rhythmicity melt exquisitely together.

After his very convincing first two CDs of Schnittke, Shostakovich and Weill, Daniel Hope returns to his roots: together with the large-scale Sonatas by Elgar and Walton, there is also Finzi's Elegy... which, as a first recording, is performed sensitively and with great style by Hope and his excellent partner, Simon Mulligan.

But it is in the Sonatas that Hope and Mulligan show their true expertise. Both works have a similar foundation - romantic, somewhat melancholy, on the whole more rhapsodic than strictly constructed. How many valuable elements lie hidden beneath the surface of this music, however, is demonstrated by Daniel Hope in an exemplary fashion - with a range of articulation which is simply incredible: huge sweeping gestures and barely audible whispering go hand in hand in the first movement of Elgar, and the yearning quality in the distinctly Mediterranean-sounding Walton are savoured in all their glorious contrasts.

As well-balanced as these works may at first appear, Hope manages all their extremes. In addition, and herein lies his greatest talent, his interpretations have perfect structural precision, a perfect whole... Hope's goal with this Recital CD is to bring British music to a wider public. One can be in absolutely no doubt that he will be successful.

10/10 Review: Daniel Hope is a young violinist whose previous Nimbus discs -- especially a surprisingly exciting pairing of Shostakovich and Schnittke -- have attracted well-deserved attention...

Here these two musicians turn to a pair of British violin sonatas and make the strongest possible case for their inclusion among the last century's chamber masterpieces... Hope's Elgar is a bit slower in each movement than Vengerov's in his superb recent Teldec recordng, but Hope shares with that master fiddler an interpretive approach that features seething intensity, wide dynamic range, and rhythmic flexibility -- and his mastery of his instrument is evident in the hushed pianissimos and dazzling speeds.

The Finzi Elegy, written in 1940 at the start of another world war and intended to be part of a full sonata, provides a pastoral breather before the big Walton Sonata, a work whose grand stature is fully conveyed by the two players. Hope's generous tone and poetic lyricism is matched by a prevailing hushed intensity while Mulligan's adroit pianism is especially evident in the long Variations movement where your ear is constantly diverted to the interplay between the instruments and their pointed phrasing. Nimbus' engineering is another attraction, full-bodied and present. 

EDITOR'S CHOICE: It is good to find so responsive a young violinist as Daniel Hope turning to British music... he conveys his enthusiasm not just in his playing but in the informative notes that he himself provides. The Elgar elicits a performance of high contrasts... with Hope using daringly extreme pianissimos.

Menuhin in both the Elgar and the Walton brings out the virtuoso side of the writing, big and bold if not so detailed as Hope... Hope and Mulligan rise superbly to the challenge... leading in the Walton into a dazzling coda, full of flair. With Hope's sweet, finely focused violin tone beautifully caught in the Nimbus recording... it makes an outstanding recommendation.

EDITOR'S CHOICE: “It is good to find so responsive a young violinist as Daniel Hope turning to British music... he conveys his enthusiasm not just in his playing but in the informative notes that he himself provides.

The Elgar elicits a performance of high contrasts... with Hope using daringly extreme pianissimos. Menuhin in both the Elgar and the Walton brings out the virtuoso side of the writing, big and bold if not so detailed as Hope... Hope and Mulligan rise superbly to the challenge... leading in the Walton into a dazzling coda, full of flair. With Hope's sweet, finely focused violin tone beautifully caught in the Nimbus recording... it makes an outstanding recommendation.“

"The young English violinist Daniel Hope is a persuasive advocate... Hope's playing here is of extraordinary virtuosity and expressiveness and he gives an intense performance of Takemitsu's moving Nostalghia.“

Three fine recordings of the Elgar Sonata all at once... Vengerov, Little and Hope... present a difficult choice for Elgarians. Daniel Hope and Simon Mulligan give perhaps the most virtuoso performance of all... this disc also has Finzi's brief Elegy and Walton's superb and underrated sonata, performed wonderfully by this well-matched duo.