It's not entirely clear where Daniel Hope's 2020 album Hope@Home was recorded: the location, except for one track recorded at the Frauenkirche in Dresden, is given merely as "Berlin." If it was indeed recorded at the violinist's home, he has a space with an unusually live acoustic that is somewhat at odds with the impression of intimacy that he seeks to convey. That's one of the few complaints here, however, for Hope has, in many ways, made a virtue of necessity. His program is built around a long list of guests, as if in the manner of a home musical soirée, including both instrumentalists and singers. The pianist on the majority of the tracks is Christoph Israel, who also serves as arranger, and it is the variety of these that really makes the album. Hope manages to pull off the idea of having a large group of talented house guests experimenting at the piano, and this is not easy to do with a convincing quality of spontaneity. Consider the unusual combination of Falla's "Asturiana" with Rudyard Kipling's poem "If," spoken by Iris Berben, or a yet more unexpected America the Beautiful. The main sequence of the program consists of a mix of classical (Schubert and Brahms) and popular American, British, and continental European songs. It may be calibrated to appeal to varied audiences, but it is relaxed, fun, often ingenious, and quite lovely.
© James Manheim /TiVo