Fiona Maddocks 

My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin CD review – Daniel Hope’s loving homage

Daniel Hope’s recital is a more than fitting tribute to his great mentor
  
  

Young Daniel Hope with Yehudi Menuhin.
Young Daniel Hope with Yehudi Menuhin. Photograph: PR Image

The great violinist and educator Yehudi Menuhin was born 100 years ago on 22 April. Daniel Hope, one of his many star pupils, knew him from early childhood, in part because his mother was Menuhin’s manager. This mixed repertoire recital, part chamber, part orchestral, draws on Menuhin’s own eclectic interests: he gave the world premiere of Mendelssohn’s less well-known violin concerto, in D minor, when it surfaced in 1951. Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins RV 522 was one Menuhin liked to play alongside pupils. As a boy he met Elgar: Hope plays the delicious salon piece Salut d’amour. There’s also Hans Werner Henze, Steve Reich, John Tavener, Enescu, Ravel and Bartók. With help from Christiane Starke (cello), Avi Avital (mandolin) and others, Hope has created a loving homage.

 

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