Belle Époque

Daniel Hope gives us a glimpse of a world long gone, full of treasures. The Belle Époque—that great flowering of the arts, science and technology—was especially rich for music, yet under the sheen and surface, darker elements often lurked. The central work is Chausson’s magical Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, the string quartet partnership here expanded to a string orchestra. Besides the French pieces, Hope gives us contemporaneous music from elsewhere in Europe (Elgar, Schoenberg, Berg, Koechlin, Enescu and others) and calls on the services of a classy bunch of musical friends. The result is delightful and thought-provoking.