Daniel Hope: Inspired by Joseph Joachim

The playing of the British violinist Daniel Hope, who is performing at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall this Sunday, is not just distinguished by its tonal beauty, but by its compelling rhetorical quality—the 38-year-old's phrasing seems often to express an unwritten text. Perhaps this is the result of growing up in a literary household. Mr. Hope's father is the novelist and poet Christopher Hope, whose earlier poetry, critical of apartheid, had obliged the family to leave South Africa for Britain, and whose novels since then have garnered important British literary awards.

Zina Saunders

A student of the celebrated Russian teacher Zakhar Bron at London's Royal Academy of Music, Daniel Hope was from early childhood a protégé of the violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin, who in 1999 made his last public appearance conducting Mr. Hope in Alfred Schnittke's technically daunting Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Chamber Orchestra. During the last six seasons of the venerable Beaux Arts Trio, Mr. Hope was its violinist, the youngest member in its history.

Mr. Hope's interests range beyond the classical repertoire, however. In a recent series of conversations and emails, he noted: "My goal is always to keep my ears as wide open as possible. I have been privileged to work with many great classical musicians, from Menuhin to [the Beaux Arts' veteran cellist] Menahem Pressler, who imparted so much wisdom. Intense study with Indian musicians such as Gaurav Majumdar and Zakir Hussain has inspired me to rethink my view of instrumental sound. And some of the most spontaneous and inspiring recording sessions I ever experienced were with Sting, a consummate and fiercely intelligent musician from an entirely different genre."

Mr. Hope's activities also include administering music festivals on two continents. He is artistic director of Germany's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, with which he has been associated for two decades. And since 2002 he has also served as associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival, in Georgia, where artistic director Rob Gibson has given free rein to Mr. Hope's remarkably catholic taste in programming. Talking about this year's Savannah season (March 22-April 7), Mr. Hope noted that "Savannah's hallmark is its cultural diversity, and on any given day our programs range from, say, the Baroque to Brahms to Edgar Meyer, from Fauré to Portuguese Fado, from Béla Fleck to Chris Thile. It's a celebration of music in all its many forms."

During his current visit to New York, Mr. Hope is leading another celebration. On Sunday he joins pianist Wu Han, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist David Finckel and violinist Erin Keefe of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in "Inspired by Joachim." The concert program reflects Mr. Hope's investigation into the work and influence of the great 19th-century Austro-Hungarian violinist and composer Joseph Joachim, who also inspired his critically acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon recording "The Romantic Violinist: A Celebration of Joseph Joachim." Mr. Hope said that, "In a sense, we are reintroducing one of the 19th century's most transcendent violinists and musical minds to today's New York audience."

Joachim (1831-1907) is best known to posterity for his close friendship with Johannes Brahms, whom he introduced to Robert and Clara Schumann. But there is a great deal more to his story. "As dedicatee of Brahms's Violin Concerto, Joachim is the name that every violinist first encounters when he opens that score," Mr. Hope observed. "But it was not until I read his collected letters that I realized the true extent of his influence on the major composers of the day.

"Most fascinating is his correspondence with Brahms and with Max Bruch, going into tremendous detail about interpretive suggestions for both composers' violin concertos. Bruch wrote his G-Minor Concerto for another violinist, but Joachim took it and revised it completely into 'his' piece. In fact, Bruch worried that if people read his correspondence with Joachim, they would think Joachim had written the concerto himself. Also of great interest were the letters voicing Joachim's very public break with Liszt and the school of music he represented—after having studied with Liszt at Weimar. It was a move that shook the music world."

A protégé of Felix Mendelssohn, Joachim had triumphantly played Beethoven's Violin Concerto under Mendelssohn's baton in London in 1844, helping establish that work in the core repertoire. As part of the Brahms-Schumann circle, Joachim performed, composed, formed the celebrated Joachim Quartet, founded the Berlin Music Academy and enjoyed an unassailable reputation for the dignity and purity of his playing. His influence as the teacher of more than 400 violinists was equivalent to that of Liszt in the keyboard realm, despite their aesthetic differences.

"Joachim's concert programming was 'cutting edge' for his time," Mr. Hope said. "He reintroduced Bach solo sonatas, he initiated entire programs of string quartets when mixed programs of chamber music, operatic selections and other genres were customary."

Joachim not only conducted the English premiere of Brahms's First Symphony, but also played the premieres of his Violin Concerto and his Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, both having been composed for him (and Robert Hausmann, cellist of the Joachim Quartet, in the latter instance). In addition, the Schumann-Brahms circle included Bruch, Albert Dietrich, Antonin Dvořák and several other important composers, all of whom wrote works for him.

The Tully Hall program will thus reflect Joachim as inspiration to one of Central Europe's most important musical coteries. On the bill are Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Opus 25 and several of his Hungarian Dances arranged by Joachim for violin and piano; Dvořák's "Echo of Songs" for String Quartet, B. 152; and the Schumann and Brahms movements from their collaborative "F-A-E" Sonata. In addition, audiences will be treated to Joachim's own Romanze, Opus 2 and his Sostenuto and Andante Cantabile from "Hebrew Melodies," Opus 9, after Lord Byron.

"Joachim's writing for the violin is technically extremely challenging, yet always wonderfully intelligent," Mr. Hope said. "You never find virtuosity for its own sake. His concern was with expression and with expressing fundamental musical values." All in all, Sunday's program will place Joachim in his historical context while placing familiar and unfamiliar works against the backdrop of his influential life.

Mr. Scherer writes about music and the fine arts for the Journal.

Daniel Hope, Hope, Christopher Hope, Brahms, Johannes Brahms, Joseph Joachim, Joachim Quartet, Alice Tully Hall, Violin Concerto, Yehudi Menuhin, Max Bruch, Robert and Clara Schumann, Robert Hausmann, Felix Mendelssohn, Violin and Chamber Orchestra

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