All Reviews articles – Page 106
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ReviewSchumann: Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor. Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat major
The Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Romantic sonatas in performances by two YCA prizewinnersMusicians: Noé Inui (violin) Vassilis Varvaresos (piano)Composer: Schumann, StraussThis disc is proof that first impressions can be misleading. One might wince at the simplistic sleeve captioning of these composers as the ‘first’ and ‘last’ of ...
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ReviewSchubert: Quartettsatz in C minor D703; String Quartet no.15 in G major D887
The Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Schubert’s quartet masterpieces on historic instrumentsMusicians: Terpsycordes QuartetComposer: SchubertThis package comprises Schubert’s first mature quartet movement and his massive final essay in the genre. The Terpsycordes’ major selling point is its use of a matching set of gut-strung ‘period’ instruments made by ...
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ReviewE. Firsova: For Slava; Homage to Canisy; Lost Vision; Meditation in the Japanese Garden; Night Songs; Spring Sonata; Tender Is the Sorrow; Three Poems of Osip Mandelstam; A Triple Portrait
The Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Premiere recordings of the captivating, profound music of Elena FirsovaMusicians: Marsyas TrioComposer: E. FirsovaBorn in 1950, Elena Firsova was already widely recognised as one of the rising stars of Soviet music by her mid-twenties. Fiercely independent, she and a number of her ...
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ReviewAlla Czeca. Dvorák: String Quartet no.13 in G major. Schulfhoff: Five Pieces. Suk: Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale ‘St Wenceslaus’
The Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Infectious performances of three Czech works for string quartetMusicians: Signum QuartetComposer: Dvorák, Schulhoff, SukThe Signum Quartet has a penchant for themed programmes on its CDs, and this well-planned and sensitively recorded (if concise) recital of under an hour’s music surveys three decades ...
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ReviewForgotten Vienna. Dittersdorf: Concerto in C major for two violins. Ordonez: Sinfonia in C major. Vanhal: Violin Concerto in B flat major; Symphony in A minor; Requiem in E flat major
The Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Musical archaeology uncovers worthwhile 18th-century concertosMusicians: George Clifford, Dominika Fehér (violins) Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge; Amadè Players/Nicholas NewlandComposer: Dittersdorf, Ordonez, VanhalReaders of The Strad will doubtless be most interested in the two violin concertos included in this programme of 18th-century ...
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ReviewBrahms: ‘Double’ Concerto in A minor for violin and cello. Prokofiev: Symphony-Concerto in E minor
The Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Natalia Gutman, friends and family in live Moscow recordingsMusicians: Natalia Gutman (cello) Oleg Kagan (violin) USSR State Academic SO/Yevgeny Svetlanov, Alexander LazarevComposer: Brahms, ProkofievNatalia Gutman has everything going for her except a large tone, and on record this deficiency can be offset. ...
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ReviewMynstrelles with Straunge Sounds: Music by Encina, Josquin, Martini and others
The Strad Issue: December 2015Description: Reconstructed 16th-century instruments take on early consort worksMusicians: Clare Wilkinson (mezzo-soprano) Rose Consort of ViolsComposer: Encina, Josquin, Martinu and othersThis recording takes us right back to the earliest days of the 16th century, when the viol consort had just become the latest ...
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ReviewMetamorfora: Works for Double Bass and Piano. Beethoven: Variations on ‘Bei Männern’. Boccherini: Sonata no.6 in A minor. Oswald: Sonata in E minor. Proto: Nine Variants on Paganini. Salllinen: Metam
The Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Four transcriptions for bass – but the original work comes off bestMusicians: Marcos Machado (double bass) Ney Fialkow (piano)Composer: Beethoven, Boccherini, Oswald, Proto, SallinenMarcos Machado’s first recorded performance, on Tarik O’Regan’s Threshold of Night, was twice Grammy-nominated, and his first solo effort ...
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ReviewTelemann: Sonatas for violin and basso continuo TWV41: G major G1, G minor g1, A minor a1, D minor d5, D minor d6, E minor e8, G major G10; Fantasia no.9 in B minor for solo violin TWV40:22
The Strad Issue: December 2015Description: Alert readings of a handful of Telemann’s accompanied sonatasMusicians: Arsenale Sonoro: Boris Begelman (violin) Ludovico Minasi (cello) Alexandra Koreneva (harpsichord)Composer: TelemannBoris Begelman offers highly accomplished readings of seven of Telemann’s sonatas for violin and basso continuo, four of which are claimed to ...
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ReviewBach: Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord: no.1 in G major BWV1027, no.2 in D major BWV1028, no.3 in G minor BWV1029
The Strad Issue: January 2016Description: First double bass recordings of Bach’s three gamba sonatasMusicians: Richard Hartshorne (double bass) Daniel Sedgwick (harpsichord)Composer: BachRichard Hartshorne is perhaps a little too self-effacing for his own good. In his booklet notes, he justifies his premiere double bass recording of Bach’s sonatas ...
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ReviewPleyel: Violin Concerto in D major; Symphony in F major. Vanhal: Symphony in G major
The Strad Issue: December 2015Description: Rediscovered works by lesser-known contemporaries of Haydn and MozartMusicians: Sebastian Bohren (violin) Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto/Luca BizzozeroComposer: Pleyel, VanhalSebastian Bohren seems surprisingly laid-back in his approach to Pleyel’s Violin Concerto. Nevertheless, he performs the work with style, vitality and ...
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ReviewBacewicz: Complete String Quartets Vol.2
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Polish players complete survey of their compatriot’s quartetsMusicians: Lutoslawski QuartetComposer: BacewiczIt might seem churlish to compare this fine release unfavourably with its predecessor, vol.1 of the Lutoslawski Quartet’s complete Bacewicz string quartet survey (reviewed in October 2015). It’s undoubtedly down ...
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ReviewThe New Four Seasons. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2016Description: It’s The Four Seasons, but not as we know itMusicians: Nigel Kennedy (violin)Composer: VivaldiHow do you like your Vivaldi? Classic, like the several recordings by I Musici, or fiercely ‘authentic’, like Adrian Chandler’s recent disc (see November issue)? Cool like ...
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ReviewNielsen: Violin Concerto. Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor; Two Serenades
The Strad Issue: December 2015Description: Exceptional playing, if a little muted, in concertos by two anniversariansMusicians: Baiba Skride (violin) Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra/Santtu-Matias RouvaliComposer: Nielsen, SibeliusSibelius’s Violin Concerto offers a great variety of interpretative possibilities (see this month’s article), and in this release the Tampere Philharmonic, under ...
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ReviewHahn: Violin Sonata in C major; Romance in A major; Nocturne in E flat major. Szymanowski: Violin Sonata in D minor; Nocturne and Tarantella
The Strad Issue: December 2015Description: An ‘odd couple’ of composers receive warm-hearted performances Musicians: Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) Huw Watkins (piano)Composer: Hahn, SzymanowskiTamsin Waley-Cohen launches into Szymanowski’s Sonata with gusto, her bow rasping on the string in the composer’s passionate flights, her sound meltingly beautiful and fragile in ...
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ReviewPurcell: 12 Sonatas of Three Parts
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Italian influences in Purcell’s very English trio sonatasMusicians: King’s ConsortComposer: PurcellIn the preface to his first set of 12 Sonatas – published in 1683 when he was only 24 – Purcell modestly declared that he had ‘faithfully endeavour’d a just ...
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ReviewP. Gregson: Touch
The Strad Issue: December 2015Description: Late-night cello consolation – but is it spiritual or soporific?Musicians: Peter Gregson (cello)Composer: Gregson‘Something lush with lots of despair’ was Peter Gregson’s aim for his second album, not counting his soundtrack for A Little Chaos. Job done, I’d say. Even the mock-Baroque ...
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ReviewBiber: Rosary Sonatas
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2016Description: Podger and friends are the ideal guides to Biber’s mysterious sonatasMusicians: Rachel Podger (violin) David Miller (theorbo/archlute) Jonathan Manson (cello/viola da gamba) Marcin ŠšwiÄ…tkiewicz (harpsichord/organ)Composer: BiberThe weird and the wonderful combine to compelling effect in Biber’s Rosary Sonatas. And Rachel ...
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ReviewInspiration. Dvorák: Serenade for Strings. Herbert: Yesterthoughts; Punchinello; Ghazel SUK Serenade for Strings; Love Song (arr. Schmidt)
The Strad Issue: December 2015Description: A new German ensemble is persuasive in mainly Czech musicMusicians: Metamorphosen Berlin/Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt (cello/director)Composer: Dvorák, HerbertJosef Suk’s Serenade for Strings is still cast in the role of Cinderella to the more popular works of that title by Tchaikovsky and Dvorák, which ...
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ReviewDuke: Violin Concerto; Violin Sonata; Etude for violin and bassoon; Hommage to Offenbach; Capriccio méxicano
The Strad Issue: December 2015Description: Broadway tunesmith turns to ‘serious’ music – with mixed resultsMusicians: Elmira Darvarova (violin) Kim Laskowski (bassoon) ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna/Scott Dunn (conductor/piano)Composer: DukeAll goes well until the final movement of Vernon Duke’s 1941 Violin Concerto, where he defaults to polystylistic ‘tema ...
