All Reviews articles – Page 132
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ReviewGuido: Le quattro stagioni
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A welcome change from the ubiquitous Vivaldi concertosMusicians: Caroline Balding (violin) Band of Instruments/Roger HamiltonComposer: GuidoWith recordings of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons still dominating the catalogues, it is refreshing to hear another composer’s take on a similar idea, his work likewise inspired by ...
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ReviewGammelpols
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A rare exploration of one of Norway’s more esoteric folk fiddle traditionsMusicians: Tron Steffen Westberg (fiddle)Composer: TradAs the booklet notes explain, ‘gammelpols’ is the most highly prized form of the ‘pols’ folk dance of the Røros district of central Norway. Already, then, ...
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ReviewRecursions. Viola music by Biber (transc. Lebermann), Rubbra, Hovhaness, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Cords & Irish trad.
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Nothing formulaic about the programming or playing of solo viola musicMusicians: Nicholas Cords (viola)Composer: Biber (transc. Lebermann), Rubbra, Hovhaness, Stravinsky, Hindemith and CordsIn this enterprisingly programmed and vividly recorded CD, Nicholas Cords – violist with, among other adventurous groups, Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk ...
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ReviewHaydn: String Quartets op.33 ‘Russian’
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Ear-opening period-instrument performances from an early printed editionMusicians: London Haydn QuartetComposer: HaydnPlaying on gut strings and with Classical bows, the London Haydn Quartet has reached op.33 in its survey for Hyperion of the Haydn quartets. As in the previous three releases the ...
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ReviewCelloquy. Auerbach: 24 Preludes, Cello Sonata, Postlude
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Be prepared for a non-stop emotional rollercoaster ride – and then relaxMusicians: Ani Aznavoorian (cello) Lera Auerbach (piano)Composer: AuerbachDespite the astonishing performances, this disc of cello-and-piano works by US composer Lera Auerbach makes for exhausting listening. Her music lives at a relentless ...
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ReviewMendelssohn: String Quartets in E minor op.44 no.2 & F minor op.80, Capriccio op.81 no.3
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A generally successful first volume in a Mendelssohn cycleMusicians: Maggini QuartetComposer: MendelssohnHaving gained much critical acclaim in the field of rarely recorded British music, the Maggini Quartet is spreading its wings with this first release in a projected cycle of Mendelssohn’s works ...
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ReviewSpain Through Strings. Arriaga: String Quartet no.3 in E flat major. Turina: La oración del torero. Toldrá: Vistas al mar. Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Quintet for guitar and strings op.143A
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A rewarding disc of mainly Spanish works for string quartetMusicians: Zemlinsky Quartet, Miriam Rodriguez Brüllová (guitar)Composer: Arriaga, Turina, Toldrá, Castelnuovo-TedescoAlthough the Italian-born Castelnuovo-Tedesco is an interloper in a disc of otherwise Spanish composers, it is his Guitar Quintet that forms the highlight. ...
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ReviewBrahms: Viola Sonatas op.120. Schubert: Sonata in A minor D821 ‘Arpeggione’
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Generally pleasing accounts of works originally for other instrumentsMusicians: Robin Ireland (viola) Tim Horton (piano)Composer: Brahms & SchubertThe latest recording from this long-standing, perfectly attuned partnership was made at Potton Hall recording studio in Suffolk ‘in front of an invited audience’ that ...
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ReviewBach: Cello Suites BWV1007–12
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Mixed results in performances that combine mannerism and eloquenceMusicians: Jan Vogler (cello)Composer: BachJan Vogler uses a standard four-string set-up for all six of the Bach Cello Suites. His range of tone adds to the power of his performances, infectiously rhythmic in the ...
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ReviewBruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor op.26. Chausson: Poème op.25. Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major op.35
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A heady mix of Romanticism tempered by subtle playingMusicians: Arabella Steinbacher (violin) Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon/Lawrence FosterComposer: Bruch, Chausson, KorngoldA whole disc of full-on Romanticism, such these works represent, could be too much for the nervous system were it not for the lithe ...
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ReviewSaint-Saëns: Music for violin and piano vol.1. Violin Sonata no.1 in D minor op.75, Berceuse op.38, Élégies opp.143 & 160, Sarabande et rigaudon op.93, Romance op.37 L’air de la pendule, Triptyque op.
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Performances that set a new standard in the playing of Saint-Saëns’s violin musicMusicians: Fanny Clamagirand (violin) Vanya Cohen (piano)Composer: Saint-SaënsThe mellifluous ease and radiant lyricism of Saint-Saëns’s D minor Violin Sonata was captured with such impassioned precision by Jascha Heifetz that for ...
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ReviewSchumann: Violin Sonatas nos.1–3
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Probing accounts of Schumann’s late sonatasMusicians: Anthony Marwood (violin) Aleksandar Madžar (piano)Composer: SchumannOne of Schumann’s countless innovations, still sadly underappreciated, was his mould-breaking tendency to create expressive structures with their own internal logic. In the violin sonatas Gidon Kremer (Deutsche Grammophon) first ...
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ReviewShostakovich: Cello Concerto no.1 op.107, Cello Sonata op.40, Moderato
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A vision of Shostakovich that works better in the chamber fieldMusicians: Emmanuelle Bertrand (cello) Pascal Amoyel (piano) BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Pascal RophéComposer: Shostakovich The arresting opening four-note motif of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto should convey menace in its unnerving tonal ambiguity, ...
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ReviewDittersdorf: Double Bass Concertos nos.1 & 2, Sinfonia concertante for viola & double bass, Duetto
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Highly accomplished performances of Dittersdorf’s complete double bass concertante worksMusicians: Leon Bosch (double bass) Robert Smissen (viola) Academy of St Martinuin the Fields/Kenneth Sillito (director)Composer: Dittersdorf Leon Bosch’s accounts of Dittersdorf’s two solo concertos abound in personality, imagination, warmth and humanity. His ...
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ReviewHaydn: String Quartet in G major op.77 no.1. Nordheim: Duplex. Bartók: String Quartet no.5
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Music-making that is often overshadowed by the richness of the recordingMusicians: EngegŠrd QuartetComposer: Haydn, Nordheim, BartókIt’s the recording itself that’s the real star of this disc. 2L’s exceptionally transparent, generous sound picks out each of the quartet’s players as individuals, yet also ...
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ReviewString Paths. Tabakova: Insight, Concerto for cello & strings, Frozen River Flows, Suite in Old Style, Such different paths
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Compelling music from a young British–Bulgarian composerMusicians: Janine Jansen, Julia-Maria Kretz, Roman Mints (violin) Amihai Grosz (viola) Torleif Thedéen, Boris Andrianov, Kristina Blaumane (cello) Stacey Watton, Donatas Bagurskas (double bass) Raimondas Sviackevi?ius (accordion) Vaiva Eidukaityt?-Storastien? (harpsichord) Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra/Maxim Rysanov (viola/conductor)Composer: TabakovaPärt ...
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ReviewTaylor: String Quartets nos.5, 6 & 7
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Three quartets play three quartets by a single composerMusicians: Dante Quartet, Allegri Quartet, Salieri QuartetComposer: TaylorThis disc follows the release seven years ago of a selection of chamber works by British composer and conductor Matthew Taylor, and features his three most recent ...
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ReviewSvendsen: Violin Concerto in A major op.6, Symphony no.1, Norwegian Artists’ Carnival, Two Icelandic Melodies
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A sympathetic performance of a little-known Romantic concertoMusicians: Marianne Thorsen (violin) Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra/Neeme JärviComposer: SvendsenAs part of Chandos’s enterprising Svendsen orchestral series, Marianne Thorsen, who has already played a major role in the cycle, here turns her attention to the rarely ...
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ReviewStrauss: Don Quixote, Till Eulenspiegel
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A well-characterised account of Strauss’s ‘Fantastic Variations’Musicians: Alban Gerhardt (cello) Lawrence Power (viola) Gürzenich Orchester Köln/Markus StenzComposer: StraussStrauss’s mastery of brilliant orchestral timbres allows him full scope to depict the two rogues in these tone poems in the most vivid of terms. ...
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ReviewSciarrino: String quartets nos.7 & 8, Sei quartetti brevi
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Confident accounts of the work of an Italian modernistMusicians: Prometeo QuartetComposer: SciarrinoIt’s easy for the strange, evanescent, half-heard micro-gestures of contemporary Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino’s fragile music to sound cold and clinical – a catalogue of glistening sound effects with no story ...
