All Reviews articles – Page 124
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ReviewClassic Meets Rock
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A double bass foursome tackles some rock classics with relishMusicians: BassMonsters: Thomas Jauch, Claus Freudenstein, Giorgi Makhoshvili, Stephan Bauer (double bass)Bring together four middle-aged male double bass players and put them in a studio to record a side project, and the resulting album ...
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ReviewWeinberg: Complete Violin Sonatas Vol.2: Violin Sonatas no.2 op.15 & no.5 op.53, Solo Violin Sonata no.2 op.95, Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes op.47 no.3
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A wide range of emotion from a master of the Soviet era, expertly traversedMusicians: Yuri Kalnits (violin) Michael Csányi-Wills (piano)Composer: WeinbergIn this much-anticipated follow-up to the first volume in this series, which I welcomed back in September 2011, Yuri Kalnits and Michael ...
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ReviewBach: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin BWV1001–6, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (arr. Stepner, after BWV903)
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A curious mixture of period instruments and modern techniqueMusicians: Daniel Stepner (violin)Composer: BachDaniel Stepner is renowned for his versatility, but these performances fall between two stools. He plays a c.1740 Sebastian Klotz, a 1641 Nicolò Amati, restored to period condition, and a ‘modernised’ ...
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ReviewThe Grappelli Album
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A loving tribute to the gypsy swing masterMusicians: Tim Kliphuis Trio: Tim Kliphuis (violin) Nigel Clark (guitar) Roy Percy (double bass)Composer: GrappelliDutch jazz violinist Tim Kliphuis is the foremost ambassador for the music of Stéphane Grappelli and for the enduringly distinctive ...
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ReviewRecital for cello and piano. Works by Kodály, Schubert, Dohnányi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Kreisler & Brahms
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An entertaining cello recital combining sonatas with encoresMusicians: Wen-Sinn Yang (cello) Adrian Oetiker (piano)Composer: Kodály, Schubert, Dohnányi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Kreisler & BrahmsThis balanced recital programme offers both familiar and less well-trodden repertoire, the latter including Kodály’s Sonatina – a mix of folk elements ...
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ReviewGrieg: Violin Sonata no.2 in G major op.13. Chausson: Poème op.25. Franck: Violin Sonata in A major
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Mature playing from a teenage virtuosoMusicians: Callum Smart (violin) Gordon Back (piano)Composer: Grieg, Chausson, FranckCallum Smart won the strings category of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2010 when he was 13, and his career has been ...
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ReviewBeethoven: String Quartet in G major op.18 no.2. Bartók: String Quartet no.3. Brahms: String Quartet in C minor op.51 no.1
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An impressive first disc from a young German quartetMusicians: Schumann QuartetComposer: Beethoven, Bartók, BrahmsThe three Schumann brothers, Erik, Ken and Mark, and violist Ayako Goto came together in 2007, and after awards in several competitions, their ensemble has emerged as ...
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ReviewMendelssohn: String Quartet in E flat major op.44 no.3, Octet in E flat major op.20, Four Pieces for String Quartet op.81 nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Satisfying quartet playing, but a diffuse account of the OctetMusicians: Mandelring Quartet, Cremona QuartetComposer: MendelssohnComposed for the virtuoso Ferdinand David in the first violin’s chair, the third of Mendelssohn’s op.44 quartets is more technically demanding than most violin concertos from the first half of the 19th ...
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ReviewFantasy and Farewell. McLean: Suite. Schumann: Märchenbilder op.113 (arr. McLean). Shostakovich: Viola Sonata op.147 (arr. V. Mendelssohn)
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Three unrelated viola works performed with varying successMusicians: Roger Myers (viola) London Symphony Orchestra/Michael FrancisComposer: McLean, Schumann, ShostakovichMichael McLean’s Suite for viola and orchestra was written in 2008 for Roger Myers at whose request the composer took Bach’s chorale ‘Befiehl du deine ...
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ReviewRomantic Duos. Liszt: Grand duo concertant, Consolation no.3 (arr. Milstein). Bridge: Violin Sonata, Romanze, Heart’s Ease. Grieg: Violin Sonata in C minor op.45
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An unusual collection performed by an assured duo Husband-and-wife duoMusicians: Benjamin Schmid (violin) Ariane Haering (piano)Composer: Liszt, Bridge, GriegBenjamin Schmid and Ariane Haering are a formidable pairing who live and breathe these scores as one, matching even the most subtle of dynamic and ...
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ReviewMétamorphoses nocturnes. Ligeti: String quartets no.1 ‘Métamorphoses nocturnes’ & no.2, Sonata for solo cello
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Assured but over-safe accounts of Ligeti’s fantastical creationsMusicians: Béla QuartetComposer: LigetiThe four young French players of the Béla Quartet make great play of the unbridled fantasy and mischievous humour in Ligeti’s music in their introductory booklet notes to this enjoyable release, so it comes ...
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ReviewPaganini: 24 Caprices op.1. Paganini Unpublished. Paganini: Six Sonatinas, Sonata with Variations, Four Studies
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Knowns and unknowns explored in two new Paganini releasesMusicians: Yehonatan Berick (violin) Stefano Delle Donne (violin) Marco Scicli (viola) Damiano Puliti (cello) Adriano Sebastiani (guitar)Composer: PaganiniYehonatan Berick’s Paganini Caprices (packaged with both DVD and Blu-Ray discs) offer little in terms of innovation, ...
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ReviewPenderecki: Capriccio per Siegfried Palm, Per Slava, Violoncello totale, Suite. Xenakis: Kottos, Nomos alpha
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Contrasting sound worlds from two modern mastersMusicians: Wiktor Kociuban (cello)Composer: Penderecki, XenakisWith two major contemporary composers named prominently on its cover, you might expect young Polish cellist Wiktor Kociuban’s stimulating CD to hold an hour of predictably thorny, challenging music. In fact, it’s very much ...
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ReviewKorngold: String Sextet op.101, Suite op.232
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Generally successful performances of Korngold chamber worksMusicians: Aron Quartet, Thomas Selditz (viola) MÁ rius Diaz (cello) Henri Sigfridsson (piano)Composer: KorngoldLike the Doric Quartet before it (Chandos; see reviews in November 2010 and May 2012), the Aron Quartet builds on the success of its own ...
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ReviewHindemith: Variations on ‘A Frog He Went A-Courting’, Sonata for solo cello op.25 no.3, Three Pieces op.8, Cello Sonata op.11 no.3
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Rather over-earnest and dynamically flat performances of Hindemith’s cello musicMusicians: Judith Ermert (cello) Daan Vandewalle (piano)Composer: HindemithHindemith has often been admired as a supreme contrapuntalist and for his remarkable musical mind, but the Variations on ‘A Frog He Went A-Courting’ reveal him in a more whimsical ...
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ReviewSchuppanzigh Quartet: Haydn
String Quartets in G major op.54 no.1, C major op.20 no.2 & G minor op.74 no.3
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ReviewAnne-Sophie Mutter: Dvorák Violin Concerto
Violin Concerto in A minor op.531, Romance in F minor op.112, Mazurek in E minor op.493, Humoresque in G flat op.101 no.7 (arr. Kreisler)
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ReviewVenezia Quartet: Casella, Turchi
Casella: Concerto per archi op.40, Cinque pezzi op.34. Turchi: Concerto breve
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ReviewRick Stotijn: Basso Bailando
Piazzolla: Cuatro estaciones porteñas (arr. van Prooijen). Rota: Divertimento concertanto. Falla: Siete canciones populares espanolas (arr. van Prooijen)
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ReviewTianwa Yang, Markus Hadulla: Works by Sarasate
Souvenirs de Faust, transcriptions & arrangements of works by Moszkowski, Chopin, Guignon, Mondonville, Leclair, Handel, Senaillé, Bach & Raff
