AIR – a Baroque Journey Presented by Liszt Academy

There are several possible ways of performing “early music”, whatever repertoire we understand by this term, ranging from historically informed (adhering strictly to the sources and research findings) to “romantic” (in fact, continuing the tradition of the first half of the 20th century) interpretations. Daniel Hope, renowned for his surprisingly fresh approach, is somewhere in the middle of this scale: in his own words, he wants to bring to the fore in his interpretations the ‘modernity of early music’ and its ‘exotic force’. In this spirit, he takes account of the turn in early music performance over the last half century, yet uses modern instruments and approaches the pieces from other perspectives in line with contemporary public taste. The repertoire he plays, however, is one that is familiar to specialists but generally avoided by ‘modern’ players: the music of the first golden age of the violin, the virtuoso composers of the 17th century.