All Reviews articles – Page 115
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ReviewCaprice viennois. Kreisler: Marche miniature viennoise, Liebesfreud, Liebesleid, Caprice viennois op.2. Brahms: Hungarian Dance no.1 in G minor (arr. for violin and piano). Ravel: Tzigane. Enescu: Vio
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Insouciance and integrity distinguish a young violinist’s debut recital discMusicians: Luka Kusztrich (violin) Dora Deliyska (piano)Composer: Kreisler, Brahms, Ravel, EnescuA former pupil of Dora Schwarzberg (he is currently studying with Gerhard Schulz), Vienna-born Luka Kusztrich is clearly a young talent to watch. ...
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ReviewFranck: Violin Sonata in A major. Grieg: Violin Sonata no.3 in C minor op.45. Dvorák: Romantic Pieces op.75
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Masterly accounts of three Romantic masterpiecesMusicians: Renaud Capuçon (violin) Khatia Buniatishvili (piano)Composer: Franck, Grieg, DvorákThis is a strong performance of Franck’s Violin Sonata. The first-movement Allegretto, for all its undoubted poetic sensitivity, is forthright and forward-moving, with firm direction and shape. Khatia ...
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ReviewDvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor op.104, Romantic Pieces op.75 (arr. Müller-Schott), Silent Woods op.68 no.5, Rondo in G minor op.94, Slavonic Dance op.46 no.8, Songs My Mother Taught Me op.55 no.4
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Interesting couplings go some way to making up for an over-earnest concerto performanceMusicians: Daniel Müller-Schott (cello) Robert Kulek (piano) NDR Symphony Orchestra/Michael SanderlingComposer: DvorákWith well over a hundred recordings of Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in the catalogue – many from fine cellists – ...
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ReviewBrahms: String Sextets no.1 in B flat major op.18 & no.2 in G major op.36
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Performances that could have benefited from greater depthMusicians: Sine Nomine Quartet, Nicolas Pache (viola) François Guye (cello)Composer: BrahmsThis Lausanne-based ensemble provides a pleasant disc of Brahms’s essays in the string sextet medium. Things begin well enough with op.36, arguably the more successful ...
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ReviewPrayer. Bloch: From Jewish Life (orch. Palmer), ‘Nigun’ from Baal Shem no.2 (orch. Purich), Méditation hébraïque, Schelomo. Shostakovich: From Jewish Folk Poetry (selection, arr. Bronner). Casals: Son
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Idiomatic playing on a disc centred on Bloch’s Hebrew worksMusicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida Thompson, Orchestre National de Lyon/Leonard Slatkin, Amsterdam Sinfonietta Cello EnsembleComposer: Bloch, Shostakovich, CasalsSol Gabetta has truly got under the skin of Bloch’s Hebraically inspired compositions, understanding their ...
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ReviewBeethoven: String Quartets in F major op.59 no.1, in E minor op.59 no.2, in C major op.59 no.3, in E flat major op.74 & in F minor op.95
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Disappointingly safe accounts of the middle-period quartetsMusicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: BeethovenThe Cypress Quartet celebrated its 15th anniversary with a three-CD set of Beethoven’s late quartets in which the playing is technically refined, if occasionally ‘underwhelming’, with ‘a degree of ordinariness’ (as reviewed in ...
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ReviewSchumann: String Quartets in A minor op.41 no.1, F major op.41 no.2 & A major op.41 no.3
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Performances that bring out the Romantic urgency of Schumann’s writingMusicians: Hermès QuartetComposer: SchumannThe Hermès Quartet finds plenty of drama in Schumann’s quartets, and the players like to keep things moving. The First Quartet moves from the still, small voice of ...
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ReviewFrench Violin Sonatas. Lekeu: Violin Sonata in G major. Ravel: Violin Sonata Movement in A minor. Fauré: Violin Sonata no.1 in A major op.13
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: February 2015Description: An inspiring sonata triptych from an expert duoMusicians: Tasmin Little (violin) MartinuRoscoe (piano)Composer: Lekeu, Ravel, FauréIf Fauré’s entire output could be encapsulated in just one word it would be ‘tendresse’. The inspired teaming of Tasmin Little and MartinuRoscoe fully captures ...
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ReviewBritten: Cello Suites nos.1–3
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Immaculate but eloquent recordings of Britten’s solo cello suitesMusicians: Olivier Marron (cello)Composer: BrittenIt may well be true, as the composer David Matthews has suggested, that Britten’s three cello suites are the most important solo cello music since Bach. There’s no ...
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ReviewLittle Dipper
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: A young jazz violinist celebrates the legacy of GrappelliMusicians: Nora Germain (violin/vocals) Will Pierce (double bass) Ed Kornhauser (piano) Ryan Shaw (drums)Composer: JazzAt just 23, West Coast violinist Nora Germain is a new name in jazz violin circles, which is not obvious ...
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ReviewBarrocco Español. Works by de Murcia, Soler, Boccherini, Brunetti, D. Scarlatti, Sanz, de Nebra & Anon
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: The somewhat frugal fruits of a search for Spanish Baroque viola musicMusicians: Nils Mönkemeyer (viola) Klaus-Dieter Brandt (cello) Thomas Zscherpe (double bass) Sabine Erdmann (harpsichord) Andreas Arend (guitar/theorbo) Anja Hermann (percussion)Composer: de Murcia, Soler, Boccherini, Brunetti, D. Scarlatti, Sanz, de NebraThe first ...
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ReviewVivaldi: Concerto in G minor for two cellos and orchestra RV531 Vivaldi: (arr. two cellos, Lloyd Webber) Concertos in G major for two mandolins RV532, for cello in E minor RV409, for oboe and bassoon
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: A final recording from a forcibly retired master of the celloMusicians: Julian Lloyd Webber, Jiaxin Lloyd Webber (cello) European Union Chamber Orchestra/Hans-Peter HofmannComposer: Vivaldi, PiazzollaThere is only one extant concerto by Vivaldi for two cellos, but Julian Lloyd Webber has very successfully ...
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ReviewStravinsky: Violin Concerto in D major. Arrieu: Violin Concerto no.2 in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Welcome revival of a forgotten violinist in 1950s French radio recordingsMusicians: Jeanne Gautier (violin) RTF National Orchestra/Jacques Pernoo, Eugène BigotComposer: Stravinsky, ArrieuThe marvellous violinist Jeanne Gautier (1898–1974) has long languished in undeserved oblivion. A superb virtuoso who embodied a quintessentially Gallic blend ...
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ReviewSomis: Violin Sonatas op.1
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Lively performances of music by a little-known but key 18th-century composerMusicians: Kreeta-Maria Kentala (violin) Lauri Pulakka (cello) Mitzi Meyerson (harpsichord)Composer: SomisAs a pupil of Corelli and teacher of Pugnani and some of the 18th century’s leading French violinist–composers, Giovanni Battista Somis (1686–1763) ...
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ReviewSchnittke: String Trio Weinberg: String Trio. Kurtág: Signs, Games and Messages (excerpts) Penderecki: String Trio
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Stylish performances that lack interpretative fireMusicians: Ensemble EpomeoComposer: Schnittke, Kurtág, PendereckiFor its second disc – generously filled, and rewardingly programmed – string trio Ensemble Epomeo focuses on music composed in Eastern Europe and Russia in the late 20th century, playing with a ...
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ReviewHaydn: String Quartets op.20
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Modern-instrument Haydn performed with period sensitivitiesMusicians: Doric QuartetComposer: HaydnListening to the Doric Quartet’s excellent op.20 set, one is struck by Haydn’s inventiveness. This is indeed visceral and subversive music, and this admirable group brings out all these tendencies beautifully. As I suggested ...
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ReviewChamber Music from the Dresden Court. Handel: Trio Sonatas in G minor HWV393 & E major HWV394. Fux: Trio Sonata in A major K340. Fasch: Trio Sonata in D major. Telemann: Trio Sonata in E flat major fr
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: A surfeit of ornamentation mars an otherwise worthwhile collectionMusicians: Ensemble DiderotComposer: Handel, Fux, Fasch, Telemann, TumaIn this resonant, appropriately balanced recording, period-instrument Ensemble Diderot performs a selection of trio sonatas by composers who had associations with the Dresden court. Three world premiere ...
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ReviewFranck: Violin Sonata in A major. Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat major op.18
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Largely successful accounts of two Romantic sonatasMusicians: Arabella Steinbacher (violin) Robert Kulek (piano)Composer: Franck, StraussFew works are so crucially dependent on those magical places between and behind the notes of a written score being fully explored as Franck’s chromatically superheated yet at ...
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ReviewColours of the Heart. Debussy: Violin Sonata. Delius: Violin Sonata no.3. Ravel: Violin Sonata. Grieg: Songs (arr. Sauret)
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Sensitive accounts of music full of sensual allureMusicians: Midori Komachi (violin) Simon Callaghan (piano)Composer: Debussy, Delius, Ravel, GriegDebussy’s Violin Sonata tantalisingly fuses stream-of-consciousness sensuality with structural and gestural Classical norms. Midori Komachi leans more towards the former, characterising the composer’s episodic asides ...
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ReviewCooke: Violin Sonata no.2, Viola Sonata, Cello Sonata no.2
The Strad Issue: January 2015Description: Music from a largely forgotten contemporary of Tippett and RubbraMusicians: Susanne Stanzeleit (violin) Morgan Goff (viola) Raphael Wallfisch (cello) Raphael Terroni (piano)Composer: CookeYorkshire-born Arnold Cooke (1906–2005) studied for three years in Berlin with Paul Hindemith and wrote six symphonies as well as ...
