Escape to Paradise - The Hollywood Album

毎回企画性の高いアルバム作りをするホープ。今回は「楽園への逃避」をコンセプトに、ハリウッドで活躍した、または活躍中の作曲家の作品を集めています。楽園への逃避とは歴史的なコンセプトであると同時に、ダニエル・ホープ自身の個人的な背景でもあります。彼の祖父母はヒットラーから逃れて南アフリカに移住し、彼の両親はアパルトヘイトから逃れるためにイギリスに渡ったのです。
コルンゴルトの「ヴァイオリン協奏曲」(全曲)を前半に配置し、数々の映画音楽からの美しき「愛のテーマ」を、ダニエル・ホープがヴァイオリンで歌い上げています。ハンス・アイスラーのメロディにスティングが歌詞をつけた「ザ・シークレット・マリッジ」の新アレンジ版では、スティングがボーカルでゲスト参加。

The subject matter of this collection of classic music from (mostly) Hollywood seems a major departure from violinist Daniel Hope's previous focus on music contending with the Nazi cultural orbit, but actually it's a logical step: a great deal of Hollywood film music was composed by refugees from Germany, and the stylistic world they created continues to resonate today. There are several good recordings of this repertory by young violinists, but Hope's stands out. Partly it's because Hope's big, richly sentimental sound fits this repertory well. Partly it's because he varies the program effectively with the full Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, of Erich Korngold, and an appearance by none other than Sting in Hanns Eisler's The Secret Marriage, while still finding the core that connects all these pieces. Partly it's that Hope finds some unusual things that connect with the rest of the program: a couple of German film scores from the early 1930s, and the German melody better known as As Time Goes By, from the film Casablanca. And partly it's the variety and sequence of arrangements running from Jascha Heifetz down to the present day. The result is a fine outing that will satisfy anyone in the mood for big film themes, but also those who are seriously interested in film music.