At first glance, the concert that violinist Daniel Hope presented Thursday night in St. Paul (repeated Friday morning) looked to be a tribute to the music of "La Belle Epoque," the era between 1875 and 1914 when Paris reasserted its international prowess as a creative center.
But a closer look suggests that Hope had a different kind of tribute in mind: By opening the evening with works by George Enescu and Fritz Kreisler and closing it with a sonata that César Franck wrote for Eugène Ysaÿe, he's trodding the turf of three of history's most masterful violinists. And holding his own quite well, thank you.
In tandem with English pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips, Hope offered an evening of romanticism without histrionics, unfettered emotion without artifice. Although he touted the program as a tale of two cities — Paris and Vienna — it felt far more like a paean to passion.
And a forum for love, from Kreisler's dripping-with-longing "Liebesleid" to Franck's wedding present for Ysaÿe, the Sonata in A, to an encore of Edward Elgar's musical marriage proposal, "Salut d'Amour." Even Arnold Schoenberg sounded in the mood for love on his "Stuck" in D Minor. Hope and Crawford-Phillips played up the romance in each of the eight works they performed, leaving the enthusiastic audience to heave sweet sighs by evening's end.
The concert served as both a greeting and a goodbye. The program marks the season finale for the Schubert Club's International Artist Series, but Thursday's performance at the Ordway Concert Hall also launched a local residency for Hope, albeit a brief one. He's the Schubert Club's featured artist this season, but, rather than pop in and out of town over the course of nine months or so, he's presenting five concerts in four days, most with his baroque sextet, the Air Ensemble.
That said, Thursday and Friday offered the best opportunity to discover why Hope is such a celebrated soloist. While those marvelous heartstring-plucking melodies by Kreisler and Franck were delivered with all the expressiveness you could want, the true revelations came on less frequently heard fare.
Such as Maurice Ravel's Violin Sonata No. 1, written when the composer was a 21-year-old conservatory student. There's plenty of evidence of the genius he would become, and Hope and Crawford-Phillips brought out the work's boldness and deep commitment to melodicism in the increasingly dramatic piece.
And then there was a work that didn't appear on the printed program: a side sojourn to Spain, courtesy of Manuel de Falla's Suite Populaire Espagnole. It was fiery and festive, solemn and straightforward, and Hope lent it a rustic swagger that suited the music splendidly.
While Gabriel Faure's "Andante" provided some deliciously sensual romanticism, the peak of the partnership of pianist and violinist came on the Franck sonata that made up the concert's second half. The duo proved particularly simpatico on a second movement that accelerated into explosiveness, followed by a heartbreakingly sorrowful slow movement and a finale featuring Franck's most memorable melody. As was the case all evening, the music radiated romance.
Daniel Hope
FamilyJam with the Air Ensemble: 10 and 11:15 a.m. Sat., Schubert Club Museum, Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th St., St. Paul, free.
"A Baroque Journey" with the Air Ensemble: 3 p.m. Sun., Luminary Arts Center, 700 N. 1st St., Mpls., $33.
Tickets: Students and children free for all concerts, 651-292-3268 or schubert.org.
Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities classical music writer. Reach him at wordhub@yahoo.com.
