Daniel Hope began the 2013-2014 season with concerts throughout Europe and Asia, all with long-term collaborator Sebastian Knauer.and focusing on his recent Deutsche Grammophon release of Max Richter's “Vivaldi Recomposed”. The official website of the award-winning British violinist, Daniel Hope. Daniel Hope plays Vivaldi Daniel Hope (violin), Kristian Bezuidenhout (harpsichord and organ), Elizabeth Kenny (theorbo, lute, Baroque guitar), Siobhan Armstrong (Baroque harp) & Erin Headley (lirone), Lorenza Borrani (solo violin), Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Lorenza Borrani (solo violin) & William Conway. Daniel Hope plays Max Richter's Recomposed. Daniel Hope introduced the evening, kicking off with a selection of Vivaldi pieces with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra - the first time the newly refurbished Bristol Old Vic had played host to an orchestra.
Violinist Daniel Hope shares thoughts on Vivaldi’s masterpiece and its modern new take before his upcoming performance with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra on November 16.
I first experienced Vivaldi as a toddler at Yehudi Menuhin’s festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, in 1975…
One day I heard what I thought was birdsong coming from the stage. It was the opening solo of “La Primavera” from The Four Seasons. It had such an electrifying effect that I still call it my “Vivaldi Spring.” How was it possible to conjure up so vivid, so natural a sound, with just a violin?
In 1723 Vivaldi set about writing a series of works he boldly titled “Il Cimento dell’ Armonia e dell’invenzione” (The trial of harmony and invention), Opus 8. It consists of 12 concerti, seven of which — “Spring,” “Summer,” “Autumn” and “Winter” (which make up The Four Seasons), “Pleasure,” “The Hunt” and “Storm at Sea” — paint astonishingly vivid, vibrant scenes. In “Storm at Sea,” Vivaldi reached a new level of virtuosity, pushing technical mastery to the limit as the violinist’s fingers leap and shriek across the fingerboard, recalling troubled waters.
In the score, each of the four seasons are prefaced by four sonnets, possibly Vivaldi’s own, that establish each concerto as a musical image of that season. At the top of every movement, Vivaldi gives us a written description of what we are about to hear. These range from “the blazing sun’s relentless heat, men and flocks are sweltering” (Summer) to peasant celebrations (Autumn) in which “the cup of Bacchus flows freely, and many find their relief in deep slumber.” Images of warmth and wine are wonderfully intertwined. When the faithful hound “barks” in the slow movement of “Spring,” we experience it just as clearly as the patter of raindrops on the roof in the largo of “Winter.” No composer of the time got music to sing, speak and depict quite like this.
Today The Four Seasons, with more than 1,000 available recordings, are being reimagined…
Astor Piazzolla, Uri Caine, Philip Glass and others have all created their own versions. In Spring 2012, I received an enigmatic call from the British composer Max Richter, who said he wanted to “recompose” The Four Seasons for me. His problem, he explained, was not with the music, but how we have treated it. We are subjected to it in supermarkets, elevators or when a caller puts you on hold. Like many of us, he was deeply fond of the “Seasons” but felt a degree of irritation at the music’s ubiquity. He told me that because Vivaldi’s music is made up of regular patterns, it has affinities with the seriality of contemporary postminimalism, one style in which he composes. Therefore, he said, the moment seemed ideal to reimagine a new way of hearing it.
I had always shied away from recording Vivaldi’s original. There are simply too many other versions already out there. But Mr. Richter’s reworking meant listening again to what is constantly new in a piece we think we are hearing when, really, we just blank it out. In fact, working with Vivaldi Recomposed since 2012 inspired me to finally record The Four Seasons last year! In this program with UMS on November 16, pairing Vivaldi’s original with Max Richter’s brilliant new take, I feel both works inform and reflect on each other to create fresh and exciting connections.
Daniel Hope Vivaldi Death
— Daniel Hope
ATHENS, Ga. —UGA Presents is bringing the Zurich Chamber Orchestra to Athens Nov. 14 for a 7:30 p.m. performance in Hodgson Concert Hall. Led by music director and violinist Daniel Hope, the orchestra will perform Vivaldi’s beloved masterwork, The Four Seasons. The program will also include concertos by Bach and Mendelssohn along with Bechara El-Khoury’s Unfinished Journey, which was commissioned by Hope for the tenth anniversary of violinist Yehudi Menuhin’s death.
The Zurich Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1945 and is now considered one of the world’s leading ensembles of its kind. The orchestra is regularly invited to perform at international music festivals and its critically acclaimed recordings have been honored with numerous awards, including two 2017 Echo Klassik Awards in the Classics Without Borders category.
Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for 25 years and is celebrated for his musical versatility as well as his dedication to humanitarian causes. He was named music director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in 2016, and he served as associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival for 16 seasons.
Hope has released over 25 albums, winning the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d’Or of the Year, the Edison Classical Award, the Prix Caecilia, seven Echo Klassik Awards and numerous Grammy nominations. He has penned four bestselling books published in Germany, and he contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal and has written scripts for collaborative performances with the actors Klaus Maria Brandauer, Sebastian Koch and Mia Farrow.
Tickets for the Zurich Chamber Orchestra concert start at $50 and can be purchased at the Performing Arts Center box office, online at pac.uga.edu or by calling 706-542-4400. A limited number of discounted tickets are available to current UGA students for $10 with a valid UGA ID (limit one ticket per student).
The concert is supported by Caroline D. Strobel.
Patrons are invited to make it an evening with a tour and free dessert at the Georgia Museum of Arts at 5:30 p.m.
Daniel Hope Vivaldi Four Seasons
The Zurich Chamber Orchestra concert is part of Spotlight on the Arts. Presented by the University of Georgia Arts Council, Spotlight on the Arts runs Nov. 6-17 and includes dozens of exhibitions and performances in the visual, literary and performing arts.
Daniel Hope Max Richter Vivaldi Recomposed
Hodgson Concert Hall is located in the UGA Performing Arts Center at 230 River Road in Athens.