All Reviews articles – Page 120
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ReviewMincek: String Quartet no.3 ‘lift–tilt–filter–split’. Rihm: Quartettstudie. Franzson: on Repetition and Reappearances. Lara: Corde vocale
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Swagger and style in an imaginative selection of contemporary worksMusicians: Mivos QuartetComposer: Mincek, Rihm, Franzson, LaraFormed in 2008, the New York-based Mivos Quartet already has a highly distinctive musical personality, demonstrated here in performances of edge-of-your-seat intensity, which still display a remarkable sense ...
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ReviewThe Hidden Violin. Godard: Solo Violin Sonatas no.1 in B minor op.20 & no.2 in A minor. Sinding: Chaconne from Suite in D minor op.123. Vecsey: Preludio e Fuga in C minor. Joachim: Schottische Melodie
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Repertoire that reinforces the lure of Bach on solo violin writingMusicians: Vaughan Jones (violin)Composer: Godard, Sinding, Vecsey, Joachim, Saint-LubinThe majority of multi-movement works for solo violin are predominantly serious in tone and appear musically tongue-tied in deference to Bach’s towering sonata and ...
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ReviewIl Violino Boemo. František Benda: Violin Sonatas in B flat major, C minor & A major (attrib. Carl Graun). Gurecký: Violin Sonata in D major. Jiránek: Violin Sonatas in F major & C major
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An enjoyable collection of 18th-century Bohemian violin sonatasMusicians: Lenka Torgersen (violin) Libor Mašek (cello) Václav Luks (harpsichord)Composer: František Benda, Gurecký, JiránekLenka Torgersen offers strong, meticulously prepared readings of these pieces, which display remarkable flair and imagination. Her articulation, smoothly contoured phrasing and ...
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ReviewBeethoven: Complete String Quartets vol.3: Quartets in C minor op.18 no.4 & in F major op.59 no.1 (Rasumovsky), Grosse Fuge in B flat major op.133
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Beethoven with drive that barely lets upMusicians: Cremona QuartetComposer: BeethovenThere’s no shortage of bite or energy in the third instalment of the Cremona Quartet’s survey of Beethoven’s string quartets. The instruments speak with crisp articulation and the players don’t hold back in ...
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ReviewYsaÿe: Sonatas for Solo Violin op.27
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Performances of substance from a young Chinese violinistMusicians: Tianwa Yang (violin)Composer: YsaÿeThere’s always the danger that violinists will get caught out by the mould-breaking technical invention of Ysaÿe’s visionary six solo sonatas. Or that, having surmounted their almost insuperable challenges, the ...
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ReviewPurcell: 10 Sonatas in Four Parts
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Gems from the English Baroque played with grace and dexterityMusicians: The King’s Consort/Robert KingComposer: PurcellThe cover photograph of scattered diamonds feels entirely apt once you listen to the disc, for each of these works is indeed a jewel. Gathered together for ...
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ReviewNordic Cello Soul. Sibelius: Andantino in C major, Andantino molto in F minor, Lulu Waltz in F sharp minor, Theme and variations. Lidholm: Quattro pezzi. Grieg: Intermezzo in A minor, Cello Sonata in
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: No revelations in this exploration of some byways of Nordic cello musicHampus Linderholm (cello) Mats JanssonMusicians: Hampus Linderholm (cello) Mats Jansson (piano)Composer: Sibelius, Lidholm, GriegEarly works by major composers are often hit or miss. Unfortunately, Sibelius’s juvenile cello works are entirely unexceptional: ...
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ReviewSchubert: Quartettsatz D703, String Quintet in C major D956
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Admirable performances that fail to meet the standards of the best on discMusicians: Cypress Quartet, Gary Hoffman (cello)Composer: SchubertIf you heard these performances in a concert, you’d go home happy. Technically they are absolutely accomplished, characterised by a lean Classical timbre. As an ...
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ReviewMendelssohn: String Quartets in A minor op.13, D major op.44 no.1 & F minor op.80
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Passionate, energised playing in three of the composer’s quartetsMusicians: Artemis QuartetComposer: MendelssohnTwo of these string quartets were conceived as memorials. The A minor work, written when Mendelssohn was 18, responds to the death of Beethoven with youthful angst, expressed by the ...
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ReviewSarasate: Opera Fantasies on Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Weber’s Der Freischütz, Verdi’s La forza del destino, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette & Reminiscence of Flotow’s Martha
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A generally satisfying collection of virtuoso operatic reworkingsMusicians: Volker Reinhold (violin) Ralph Zedler (piano)Composer: SarasatePablo Sarasate composed fantasies on popular operas throughout his life as a composer, and he used their technical demands in concert to demonstrate his immense brilliance. Even placed ...
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ReviewLeclair: Complete Sonatas for Two Violins: Sonatas opp.3 & 12
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An important release of the French composer’s neglected violin duosMusicians: Greg Ewer, Adam LaMotte (violin)Composer: LeclairGreg Ewer and Adam LaMotte are seasoned collaborators who gel cohesively and complement each other well in this landmark recording of Leclair’s twelve violin duo sonatas. They use period ...
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ReviewLanggaard: String Quartets vol.2: Rose Garden Play, String Quartets in A flat major & no.4 ‘Summer Days’
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A welcome volume in a new survey of the Danish composer’s quartetsMusicians: Nightingale QuartetComposer: LanggaardRued Langgaard (1893–1952) composed ten major works for string quartet, most of which date from the decade between 1915 and 1925. His Fourth Quartet (actually his eighth) appeared ...
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ReviewKhachaturian: Violin Concerto in D minor. Shostakovich: String Quartets no.7 in F sharp minor op.108 & no.8 in C minor op.110
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: The Canadian violinist in fine form as both soloist and quartet leaderMusicians: James Ehnes (violin) Ehnes Quartet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Mark WigglesworthComposer: Khachaturian,ShostakovichIf Khachaturian’s super-heated Concerto is normally sustained at a high emotional setting with its rapier-like thrust indulged to the maximum, James ...
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ReviewPavans and Fantasies from the Age of Dowland. Works by Dowland, Purcell, Lawes, Jenkins, Morley & Locke
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A skilled intermingling of melancholy and high spiritsMusicians: John Holloway, Monika Baer (violin/viola) Renate Steinmann, Susanna Hefti (viola) MartinuZeller (bass violin)Composer: Dowland, Purcell, Lawes, Jenkins, Morley & LockeJohn Dowland’s seven Lachrimae Pavans punctuate this CD, always gently moving, given impetus by the ...
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ReviewHytta: Draumsyn
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Ancient and modern meet on a disc that brings new sounds to old instrumentsMusicians: Anne Hytta (Hardanger fiddle/viola d’amore/vielle)Composer: HyttaAnne Hytta is one of a number of players of Scandinavian traditional stringed instruments to be taking the folk music of the region in ...
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ReviewCarter: String Quartets nos.1–5
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A masterly completion of a much-lauded cycle of quartet performancesMusicians: Juilliard QuartetComposer: CarterThe Juilliard Quartet’s recordings of the first four of Elliott Carter’s thorny yet hugely influential string quartets have every right to be considered definitive – the Juilliard players worked closely with Carter on ...
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ReviewEastern Promise: European violin sonatas
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Three new albums of violin sonatas from central and eastern EuropeMusicians: Katrin ten Hagen (violin) & Christina Wright-Ivanova (piano); Frédéric Bednarz (violin) & Natsuki Hiratsuka (piano); Hideko Udagawa (violin) & Boris Berezovsky (piano)Composer: Prokofiev, Janácek, Bartók, Szymanowski, Shostakovich, KhachaturianIn ‘Eastern Impressions’ (ARS ...
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ReviewThrough the Centuries. L. Weiner: Duo. Fuchs: 6 Duets op.60. Gál: Divertimento op.90 no.3. Bach: 4 Two-Part Inventions (arr. David). Pleyel: Grand Duo op.69 no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An auspicious start to an ambitious series exploring violin–viola duetsMusicians: Annette-Barbara Vogel (violin) Daniel Sweaney (viola)Composer: L. Weiner, Fuchs, Gál, Bach, PleyelReleased as ‘Vol.1’, this compilation of duos for violin and viola promises to be nothing if not thorough in the coverage ...
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ReviewBirtwistle: Settings of Lorine Niedecker, Piano Trio, Bogenstrich
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Commanding performances of understated musicMusicians: Lisa Batiashvili (violin) Adrian Brendel (cello) Amy Freston (soprano) Roderick Williams (baritone) Till Fellner (piano)Composer: BirtwistleLyrical, sensitive, restrained: they’re hardly adjectives you’d use to describe much of Harrison Birtwistle’s uncompromising output, but they ably sum up the ...
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ReviewVivaldi: The Four Seasons, Concerto in F major for three violins RV551. Pärt: Passacaglia
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A no-nonsense account of Vivaldi’s famous foursomeMusicians: Anne Akiko Meyers (violin) English Chamber Orchestra/David LockingtonComposer: Vivaldi, Pärt Anne Akiko Meyers’s ample vibrato fashions a warm and elegant tone that is the antithesis of those violinists who purport to be recreating an authentic ...
