CD REVIEW
– America
DANIEL HOPE
DG 4861940
[84’]
 '
A Daniel Hope
album, 'Journey Into
Mozart', was reviewed
here back in 2018 and since then
the South African virtuoso
violinist of Irish and German
Jewish descent (b.1973) has made
several other imaginatively
conceived discs. This latest one
is very much in the territory of
light music.
It opens with a 28
minute 'George Gershwin
Suite': a selection of five
well-loved numbers in which Hope
is accompanied by the jazz trio
of renowned American pianist
Marcus Roberts, Rodney Jordan on
bass and Jason Marsalis on drums,
as well as his Zürcher
Kammerorchester (Zurich Chamber
Orchestra), of which he has been
Music Director since 2016. Later
there is a 2019 Paul Bateman
arranged 'West Side Story'
– accepted by the Bernstein
Estate – sans brass and
percussion that, also unusually,
includes A Boy Like That
and I Have a Love.
Sandwiched between
the two suites, German soul and
R&B singer Joy Denalane sings
Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna
Come, accompanied by Hope
and Brazilian pianist Sylvia
Thereza.
Following these
are Adoration composed
by Florence Price, a recently
discovered composing talent, two Old
American Songs and Hoe-Down
from 'Rodeo' by Aaron
Copland, and Come Sunday
from Duke Ellington's 'Black,
Brown & Beige Suite'.
Kurt Weill's 'American
Song Suite', comprising September
Song, My Ship, Speak Low and
Mack the Knife featuring
German jazz guitarist Joscho
Stephan come next; with Samuel A
Ward's America the Beautiful,
arranged for solo violin and
chamber orchestra, concluding the
longest playing album I have
reviewed to date.
As well as the
fine playing of Hope, his band
and guests, this release's other
attraction are the fresh
arrangements of everything (apart
from the 'Rodeo' piece) by Paul
Bateman (b.1954), whose talents
include conducting two score of
film music recordings with the
City of Prague Philharmonic
Orchestra for Silva Screen
Records, and composing hymn tunes
and other Church music.
A pleasant nicely
judged compilation demonstrating
the diversity of music from
across The Pond, well worth
acquiring.
© Peter
Burt 2022
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