Silvestrov Daniel Hope

• Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937): Melodies of the Moments - Cycle III:
• 1 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle III: I. Lullaby 03:30
• 2 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle III: II. Barcarole 02:49
• 3 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle III: III. Lullaby 02:16
• Nostalghia:
• 4 Silvestrov: Nostalghia 03:36
• Melodies of the Moments - Cycle VII:
• 5 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle VII: I. Elegy 02:23
• 6 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle VII: II. Barcarole 02:26
• 7 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle VII: III. Musical Moment 02:18
• Two Pieces:
• 8 Silvestrov: Two Pieces: I. Moments of Chopin 03:58
• Hommage à J.S.B.:
• 9 Silvestrov: Hommage à J.S.B.: I. Andantino 01:12
• 10 Silvestrov: Hommage à J.S.B.: II. Andantino 01:01
• 11 Silvestrov: Hommage à J.S.B.: III. Andante 02:56
• Melodies of the Moments - Cycle VI "25.10.1893 … in memoriam P.I.Tsch.":
• 12 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle VI "25.10.1893 … in memoriam P.I.Tsch.": I. Prelude (Birth of the Melody) 04:02
• 13 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle VI "25.10.1893 … in memoriam P.I.Tsch.": II. Lullaby 03:45
• 14 Silvestrov: Melodies of the Moments - Cycle VI "25.10.1893 … in memoriam P.I.Tsch.": III. Serenade 03:28
• Pastorales 2020:
• 15 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: Epigraph 00:14
• 16 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: I. Moderato 01:41
• 17 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: II. Allegro assai con moto (poco rubato) 01:28
• 18 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: III. Allegro vivace con moto (rubato) 01:28
• 19 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: IV. Larghetto 01:13
• 20 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: V. Moderato 01:52
• 21 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: VI. Moderato 02:01
• 22 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: VII. Andantino con moto 02:43
• 23 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: VIII. Allegretto con moto 02:20
• 24 Silvestrov: Pastorales 2020: IX. Moderato con moto (dolce, leggiero, lontano) 03:24
• Total Runtime 58:04

Info for Silvestrov

The exquisite music of Valentin Silvestrov has attracted worldwide attention in recent months. Violinist Daniel Hope and pianist Alexey Botvinov now present a pure Silvestrov program with their latest album for DG. It includes the world premiere recording of the Pastorales 2020 and a selection of unspeakably beautiful companion pieces.

Hope says, "Silvestrov's music lives and breathes melody. When we perform his works for an audience, it has a profound effect. Its simplicity, in my opinion, is the deepest form of nurturing one's feelings and emotions at that moment. It penetrates to the core, to the source of being human. And he does so with a childlike simplicity. Yet his scores are tremendously dense in expression and dynamic markings. What appears to be a simple, basic melody is in constant flux, a changing of the tides. It is restless, captivating music in a soft shell. I know of no other composer like him. His music is deeply emotional and expressed in very restrained words.

Valentin Silvestrov: Distinctive musical voice

Valentin Silvestrov is one of Ukraine's most important contemporary composers and has established a distinctly original, forceful and expressive style in his works. "I believe that music - even if it cannot be 'sung' - is nevertheless singing," the sound creator himself once said. In his compositions, he translates this belief into sound, captivating listeners with songlike lines, sonorous phrases and expressive motifs. In doing so, he always strives for a "universal music," as he says, for connections through tones and sounds, in other words, that transcend borders. "Silvestrov's music lives and breathes melody. When we play it, the audience always takes something away from it. Its simplicity, I believe, at its core and directly nourishes one's feelings. It penetrates to what constitutes being human," is how Daniel Hope describes Silvestrov's art. Silvestrov had to experience the horrors of war as a child - at that time he experienced Nazi-occupied Kiev. Now, 80 years later, this trauma repeated itself and the musician finally fled to Berlin in the face of the ever-increasing threat.

Gripping topicality in the face of war

Daniel Hope and Alexey Botvinov had the album of Silvestrov's music in mind even before Russia invaded Ukraine. For example, Daniel Hope and Alexey Botvinov have long enjoyed a close musical partnership, and Hope is a regular guest in Odessa, where he gives concerts at the Odessa Classics music festival directed by Botvinov. In light of current developments, the album nonetheless takes on a particularly haunting radiance. Alexey Botvinov also had to flee and leave Odessa; like Silvestrov, he is now in exile.

Emotional, expressive and rich in color - Silvestrov's works

Daniel Hope describes Silvestrov as a "strong, uncompromising character" who has never conformed to this day and has unmistakably gone his own way. This clarity and openness in equal measure are also reflected in his music. The new album by Hope and Botvinov features very different works in which the composer takes up the styles of Schubert, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Bach and playfully incorporates them into his music.

The centerpiece is a world premiere recording, the nine-movement piece "Pastorales 2020," which is prefaced by a quotation from the first four measures of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F major. Two gems are the "Chopin moments", particularly concise and personal references again the pieces "25.10.1893 ... in memoriam P. I. Tsch." as well as the "Hommage à J. S. B.". In keeping with his orientation towards song, the "Songs without Words" and the three-part "Cycle VII" from "Melodies of the Moments" are also heard. A special listening experience is also the piece "Nostalghia" for piano solo, which Botvinov describes as a "mixture of free jazz and meditation" that convinces with a "dreamy, hallucinatory quality".

Touching and haunting

In their intense interplay, Hope and Botvinov subtly plumb the depths of Silvestrov's works and actually turn the pieces into fascinating songs without words, whose emotional power and melodic beauty are deeply moving. Not only for the performers, but also for the listeners, Silvestrov's music inevitably resounds in the context of the events in Ukraine. Thus Hope says, "I have always been drawn to Silvestrov's music." In light of recent developments, however, "how you think about, play and breathe this music has changed. Now that we have recorded the music - just now - I have a different relationship to it, there is something familiar and at the same time painful about it for me." For Botvinov, on the other hand, music is able to comfort, especially in times like these. The pianist says: "I feel - at the moment even more than usual in seemingly 'normal' times - what power music holds for all of us. I hope that people feel that when they listen to our Silvestrov recording."

Daniel Hope, violin
Alexey Botvinov, piano

Daniel Hope
British violinist Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for more than twenty years, and as the youngest ever member of the Beaux Arts Trio during its last six seasons. He is renowned for his musical versatility and creativity and for his dedication to humanitarian causes. Hope performs as soloist with the world’s major orchestras and conductors, directs many ensembles from the violin, and plays chamber music in a wide variety of traditional and new venues. Raised in London and educated at Highgate School, Hope earned degrees at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with renowned Russian pedagogue Zakhar Bron.

London’s Observer called Hope “the most exciting British string player since Jacqueline du Pré,” and recent New York Times reviews summarized his unique attributes: “... a violinist of probing intellect and commanding style... In a business that likes tidy boxes drawn around its commodities, the British violinist Daniel Hope resists categorization.’

Daniel Hope, an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2007, has earned numerous Grammy nominations, a Classical BRIT award, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis and five ECHO Klassik Prizes. He previously recorded for Warner Classics and Nimbus, playing Bach, Britten, Elgar, Finzi, Foulds, Ireland, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Penderecki, Schnittke, Shostakovich, Tippett, Walton, and Weill. His recording of the Berg Violin Concerto was voted to be the “best available of all time” by Gramophone Magazine in 2010. His Mendelssohn CD for Deutsche Grammophon featuring the Violin Concerto and Octet was voted one of the finest Mendelssohn recordings by the New York Times in 2009. His recent release for Deutsche Grammophon was a tribute to the great and highly influential violinist and composer Joseph Joachim (1831- 1907) and centred around the Bruch concerto, a work with which Joachim was closely associated. The Bruch was recorded with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Sakari Oramo. "Four Seasons Recomposed" – the newest release in DG’s “Recomposed” series presents Daniel Hope with the Berlin Konzerthaus Chamber Orchestra, conducted by André de Ridder, in a world première recording of British composer Max Richter’s." Spheres" – which is Hope’s own project, due out in early 2013 – is a curated collection of repertoire celebrating the idea, first brought forward by Pythagoras, that planetary movement creates its own kind of music. This idea has fascinated philosophers, musicians, and mathematicians for centuries. The CD’s program includes music in a variety of styles, from Baroque to minimalist, by Bach, Faure, contemporary masters like Arvo Pärt and Michael Nyman, and younger composers who have specially composed new works for Hope, based on the idea of spherical music. These include Gabriel Prokofiev, Ludovico Einaudi, Alex Baranowski and Aleksey Igudesmann. Hope is joined by the Berlin Rundfunk-choir under the direction of Simon Halsey on this disc.

Hope regularly directs chamber orchestras as violin soloist with ensembles including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Camerata Salzburg, and Lucerne Festival Strings. He has performed at the world’s most important festivals, such as the BBC Proms, Hollywood Bowl and the Lucerne, Ravinia, Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Tanglewood festivals. Daniel Hope has performed in all of the world’s most prestigious venues and with the world’s great orchestras. Highlights include the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, as well as the major orchestras of Berlin, Birmingham, Dallas, Detroit, Dresden, Israel, London, Moscow, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, and Vienna. He is Associate Music Director of the Savannah Music Festival and Artistic Director at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Summer Festival in Germany. He has also published three bestselling books.

Daniel Hope plays the 1742 “ex-Lipiński” Guarneri del Gesù, placed generously at his disposal by an anonymous family from Germany. The instrument carries the name of its owner, the 19th century Polish violinist Karol Lipiński, who shared the stage with Paganini, Schumann and Liszt.

Booklet for Silvestrov