Reviews

Chloë in the Press

BEETHOVEN Violin Sonatas 4, 5, ‘Spring’ & 7

“Hanslip seduces the senses with a compelling suppleness of dynamic, phrasing and senza-vibrato purity” (The Strad, June 2018)

BEETHOVEN Violin Sonatas 1, 3, 6, 8 (Rubicon Classics CD)

“In all of this, there is a sympathy, a psychological depth, which plugs directly into Beethoven’s propensity to write paragraphs that make you feel like you’re being urged to the edge of an abyss, even as the sun continues to shine and the birds continue to sing. I look forward to Hanslip and Driver’s Kreutzer and Spring and the rest with an eagerness bordering on torment.” (Limelight, April 2018)

BEETHOVEN Violin Sonatas 1, 3, 6, 8 (Rubicon Classics CD)

“This CD is instantly engaging, thanks to the warmth and clarity of Hanslip’s playing and the obvious rapport between the musicians.” (The Strad, February 2018)

Sinfónica de Galicia: COLL Four Iberian Miniatures, BRITTEN Violin Concerto

“…Hanslip returned to marvel at a model interpretation of the Britten… Throughout the movement Hanslip exhibited a fluid legato and prodigious pianissimi, especially in the melancholy Morendo. These gave way to maximum precision and sharpness in the brave passages of the Vivace.” (Bachtrack, February 2018)

Turner Sims/Driver: SCHUBERT Sonatina in D, BEETHOVEN Sonata in G, Sonata in A min ‘Kreutzer’

“This ‘Kreutzer’ brimmed with energy, the first movement imperious and plaintive, dazzling and tender – not a bar went by without an arresting cascade of notes or a legato line of penetrating insight. It wasn’t just the meeting of minds here, the players’ collective intuition, but the combined control and sheer accuracy that left one searching for superlatives. Hanslip and Driver mesmerised in the central movement, sustaining its lengthy and diverse span with infinite care and unfailing variety of feeling, and the Finale was simply spellbinding, the duo entering the spirit of its ‘cat and mouse’ antics with unsuppressed glee and bringing to a close a knockout performance.” (Classical Source, 17 October, 2017)

BEETHOVEN Violin Sonatas 1, 3, 6, 8 (Rubicon Classics CD)

“Chloë Hanslip and Danny Driver are both engaging and extremely accomplished artists… Hanslip has a wide-grained tone which, coupled to Driver’s quiet wit, makes for some lovely moments: the hushed pay-off at the end of the Adagio of Op 30 No 1, for example, and the way they jointly weave their way through the curling opening motif of the same sonata… These are not flamboyant readings (though there’s an amusing sense of mischief about the outer movements of Op 30 No 3), but they create a world in which you want to spend time.” (Gramophone, November 2017)

BBC Proms: BBCNOW/van Steen BERKELEY Violin Concerto – World Premiere

“Hanslip takes up the raw electric violin for the finale, a ferocious outpouring of rage and grief, though a quiet coda in which she reverts to the standard instrument brings the work to a close in a mood of resignation. Her performance can only be described as a tour de force.” (The Guardian, 28 July 2016)

“But there’s nothing indeterminate about Berkeley’s fiercely personal Violin Concerto. Premiered the following night by BBCNOW and soloist Chloë Hanslip…With Hanslip as passionate, eloquent advocate the work hit hard, daring to make death beautiful in music whose songs strove constantly against the rumbling disagreements on timpani and tabla.” (The Independent, 28 July 2016)

“Hanslip’s poetic touch kept every note she played alive and fresh whatever the violin, acoustic or electric” (The Times, 29 July 2016)

“Chloë Hanslip was an inspired choice to give the first performance. She demonstrated the emotional intensity that Berkeley was looking for, with a sweetness of tone and a sharpness that was crucial” (Bachtrack, 29 July 2016)

BBC NOW/Stern: ADAMS Dharma at Big Sur

“Far from finding it unsettling to be taken out of a comfortable parameter into a whole new aural zone, this audience was transported first by soloist Chloë Hanslip’s impassioned lyricism, and then by its ever-more ecstatic indulgence.” (The Guardian, 15 April 2016)