Vieuxtemps: Greeting to America, Op. 56

Hyperion’s record of the month for May heralds a new collaboration with the brilliant young British violinist Chloë Hanslip, the former child prodigy famously signed to Warner Classics at the age of just fourteen. Here, she lends her now-mature talents to the second release in Hyperion’s overview of Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concertos and Volume 12 of the burgeoning Romantic Violin Concerto series.

Henry Vieuxtemps (1820–1881) was a French violin virtuoso who, after the death of Paganini, was widely considered to be the best violinist in Europe. Besides being a brilliant player, he was a remarkably fine composer, as demonstrated in these, his first two concertos. Alongside the memorable violin fireworks, Vieuxtemps here shows a well-argued musical sensibility that straddles both the Classical and Romantic eras as well as the ability to write gorgeous, almost operatic slow movements in the best bel canto tradition.

Vieuxtemps was a towering figure in the long line of master 19th-century violinist composers, from Viotti, Rode, Bériot and Paganini to Wieniawski, Kreisler and Ysaÿe, and one of the first to use the full Romantic orchestral palette in the composition of works with soloist.

Composed during his Russian sojourn, the ornate and virtuosic Fantasia appassionata reaches a fast and furious conclusion, as does the wistful yet dignified Ballade et Polonaise.

Yankee Doodle and The Star-Spangled Banner are quoted to great effect in Greeting to America.