All Reviews articles – Page 104
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ReviewTippett: Complete String Quartets
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: April 2016Description: A state-of-the-art Tippett quartet cycle live from Wigmore HallMusicians: Heath QuartetComposer: TippettIt was brave of the Heath Quartet to make its debut on disc with a Tippett cycle recorded live at Wigmore Hall. Given the formidable technical and interpretative difficulties ...
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ReviewSolitude. Blondeau: Black Bird. Dillon: Paranja-Vata. Lanza: La bataille de Caresme et de Charnage. Lim: Invisibility. Saunders: Solitude
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS The Strad Issue: April 2016Description: New (and nearly new) sounds for cello from Séverine BallonMusicians: Séverine Ballon (cello) Mark Knoop (piano)Composer: Blondeau; Dillon; Lanza; Lim; Saunders This album of state-of-the-art cello music performed by French cellist Séverine Ballon feels like a modern-day counterpart to ...
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ReviewIdentity. Debussy: Violin Sonata. Janácek: Violin Sonata. Schulhoff: Violin Sonata. Szymanowski: Violin Sonata op. 9; Notturno and Tarantella op. 28
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: April 2016Description: Intelligent programming and ideal performancesMusicians: Noé Inui (violin) Mario Häring (piano)Composer: Debussy; Janácek; Schulhoff; SzymanowskiThis is a thoughtfully produced disc. The booklet notes, linking these early 20th-century compositions, create a useful conceptual context for these varied but complementary works, including ...
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ReviewA Tribute to Rudolf Barshai
The Strad Issue: March 2016Musicians: Rudolf Barshai (viola/conductor)After Rudolf Barshai left the Soviet Union in 1977 he worked exclusively as a conductor, but in his native country he had been a virtuoso violist who shared the podium with the greatest players of his time. A violin student ...
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ReviewComplete String Quartets Vol.4. Taneyev: String Quartets: no.6 in B flat major op.19; no.9 in A major
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: The Carpe Diem’s Taneyev quartet survey continues in fine styleMusicians: Carpe Diem QuartetComposer: TaneyevTaneyev’s Ninth String Quartet, written considerably earlier than the Sixth, in 1883, is an attractive, open-hearted work. The opening Allegro moderato has a captivating lyrical sweep and skipping staccato ...
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ReviewSmetana: Piano Trio in G minor op.15. Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor op.50
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Passion and panache in Danish performances of Romantic piano triosMusicians: Trio con Brio CopenhagenComposer: Smetana; TchaikovskyDeluged with plaudits for its earlier recordings, this ensemble comes with a reputation to live up to – and doesn’t disappoint. From the first note, the Trio ...
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ReviewKaipainen: String Quartet no.7 op.98 ‘Batsheba’. Sibelius: String Quartet op.56 ‘Voces intimae’. Tiensuu: Rack
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Intimacy and Expressionism in a trio of Finnish string quartet worksMusicians: Kamus QuartetComposer: Kaipainen; Sibelius; TiensuuMuch of the intensity in the late Jouni Kaipainen’s Seventh String Quartet is apparently rooted in the ‘steamy’ love affair of King David and Bathsheba in Volter ...
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ReviewMozart: Violin Concerto no.3 in G major K216; Piano Trio in E major K542. Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Classics reissued – and the Ravel Trio for the first time on silver discMusicians: Yehudi Menuhin (violin/director) Gaspar Cassadó (cello) Louis Kentner (piano) Bath Festival OrchestraComposer: Mozart; RavelThe old LP of the Ravel and Mozart trios introduced me to the works, more ...
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ReviewBruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor. Lalo: Symphonie espagnole. Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Evergreens enhanced by Capuçon’s purity and uncanny accompanimentMusicians: Renaud Capuçon (violin) Orchestre de Paris/Paavo JärviComposer: Bruch; Lalo; SarasateIn an opulently engineered recording with a generous amount of reverberation, Renaud Capuçon and Paavo Järvi ensure that the Lalo swashes its buckler with plenty ...
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ReviewBrahms: Two Viola Sonatas op.120. Hindemith: Viola Sonata op.11 no.4. Weigl: Viola Sonata op.32
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Vintage viola recordings that reveal a unique authenticityMusicians: Paul Doktor (viola) Nadia Reisenberg (piano)Composer: Brahms; Hindemith; WeiglThese deliciously ‘old world’ readings were recorded around 60 years ago by a wonderfully well-attuned duo. The main drawback is the recording quality, not downright bad ...
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ReviewBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77; String Quintet no.2 in G major op.111
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Weithaas leads from the front in the Brahms ConcertoMusicians: Antje Weithaas (violin/director) Camerata BernComposer: BrahmsCatalogue Number: AVI-MUSIC 8553328To direct the Brahms Concerto from the violin is challenging enough; to know that the concert is going out on a CD must be daunting ...
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ReviewBeethoven: Romance in F major op.50. Berg: Violin Concerto. R. Fuchs: Nine Fantasy Pieces. Joachim: Hebrew Melodies
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Zukerman tapings from the 1990s finally see the light of dayMusicians: Pinchas Zukerman (violin/viola) Marc Neikrug (piano) London Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin MehtaComposer: Beethoven; Berg; R. Fuchs; JoachimThe sequence of nine pieces from Robert Fuchs’s three books of Fantasiestücke is the best violin playing ...
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ReviewScrapyard Exotica. Bates: Bagatelles. Fairouz: The Named Angels. Ueno: Peradam
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Samples, singing and other surprises in a collection of new worksMusicians: Del Sol QuartetComposer: Bates; Fairouz; UenoThis substantial recording project presents three works composed for the San Francisco-based Del Sol Quartet, a group dedicated to commissioning and performing new music. Each piece ...
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ReviewBate: Cello Concerto. Bax: Cello Concerto
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Fine advocacy from an adventurous cellist of two concerto raritiesMusicians: Lionel Handy (cello) Royal Scottish National Orchestra/MartinuYatesComposer: Bate; BaxThis recording represents a milestone for two neglected British cello concertos of the last century: the recording premiere of Stanley Bate’s Concerto and only ...
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ReviewBartók: Violin Concerto no.1. Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Celestial sweetness in an odd couple of concertosMusicians: Janine Jansen (violin) Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, London Symphony Orchestra/Antonio PappanoComposer: Bartók; BrahmsThe connections Janine Jansen makes between these two concertos in the booklet notes may be sketchy but it ...
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ReviewBach: Sonata no.2 in A minor BWV1003; Partitas: no.2 in D minor BWV1004; no.3 in E major BWV1006; Largo (from Sonata no.3 in C major BWV1005); The Art of Fugue – Contrapunctus XIV
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Private Bach recordings by a period performance pioneerMusicians: Eduard Melkus (violin)Composer: BachWhat a curious disc. From a label without a catalogue comes a transfer of three solo works, recorded live in August 1975, on what sounds like a C90 cassette in a ...
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ReviewOrbit: Music for Solo Cello. Music by Berio, Carter, Dallapiccola, Glass, Golijov, Hendrix, Lennon/McCartney, Ligeti, Machover, Mackey, Moravec, Pop, Rorem, Sanford, Sciarrino, Sokolovic, Spratlan, Tr
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Matt Haimovitz presents a compelling anthology of cello storiesMusicians: Matt Haimovitz (cello)Composer: Berio, Carter, Dallapiccola, Glass, Golijov, Hendrix, Lennon/McCartney, Ligeti, Machover, Mackey, Moravec, Pop, Rorem, Sanford, Sciarrino, Sokolovic, Spratlan, Tremblay, Twining, Woolf, YunNot so much a recital disc, US cellist Matt Haimovitz’s ...
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ReviewPresence. Vasks: Cello Concerto no.2 ‘Klatbutne/Presence’; Musique du soir; Gramata cellam
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Vasks’s beautiful sound world brought brilliantly to life by Sol GabettaMusicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Irène Timacheff-Gabetta (organ) Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida ThompsonComposer: VasksConviction is everything when performing music by the Latvian composer PÄ“teris Vasks. Without it, his highly emotional works can sound ...
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ReviewItalian Journey: Works for string orchestra by Bazzini, Ernst, Mascagni, Morricone, Paganini, Respighi and Tartini
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Works old and new that display this young group’s talentsMusicians: LGT Young Soloists/Alexander GilmanComposer: Bazzini, Ernst, Mascagni, Morricone, Paganini, Respighi, TartiniThis youthful ensemble’s debut disc is well attuned to the ‘easy listening’ classical market. It offers a strange yet richly varied selection ...
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ReviewNielsen: Violin Concerto; Prelude and Theme with Variations op.48; Prelude and Presto op.52
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Ideal playing in Nielsen’s Concerto and unaccompanied worksMusicians: Cecilia Zilliacus (violin) Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra/Daniel BlendulfComposer: NielsenOne shouldn’t prejudge a recording, but as soon as I spotted the word ‘ugly’ in the self-penned essay Cecilia Zilliacus has appended to this disc, ...
