All Reviews articles – Page 152
-
ArticleBirth of the Violin. Works for solo violin by Westhoff, Biber, Pisendel, Geminiani, Matteis, Guillemain & Rust
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Variable success in an exploration of early violin repertoireMusicians: Rebekka Hartmann (violin)Composer: Westhoff, Biber, Pisendel, Geminiani, Matteis, Guillemain & RustFew successfully combine stylish Baroque string playing with an itinerant career as a concerto soloist in Classical and Romantic repertoire. However, Rebekka Hartmann ...
-
ArticleValls: Music for double bass and piano
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Revival of bass music by a Bottesini acolyteMusicians: Leon Bosch (double bass) Sung-Suk Kang (piano)Composer: VallsThe Spanish bassist–composer Pedro Valls was directly influenced by the virtuoso salon style of Giovanni Bottesini. His experiences of Bottesini’s performances in Barcelona and his instruction from ...
-
ArticleBach: Goldberg Variations (arr. Sitkovetsky)
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: An account of Bach’s masterpiece that pays tribute to its keyboard originsMusicians: Leopold String TrioComposer: Bach (arr. Sitkovetsky)Dmitry Sitkovetsky arranged Bach’s great keyboard work for string trio with a delicate, sensitive hand, an approach followed in turn by the Leopold String Trio ...
-
ArticleRautavaara: Lost Landscapes, Summer Thoughts, April Lines, Notturno e danza, Variétude, Dithyrambos, Pelimannit
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Little sense of indulgent nostalgia in violin works by a Finnish master looking backMusicians: Pekka Kuusisto (violin) Paavali Jumppanen (piano)Composer: RautavaaraLost Landscapes (2005) conveys the memories of a septuagenarian recalling student days spent in America’s Tanglewood summer school, reliving his period immersed ...
-
ArticlePaper Airplane
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A country disc that could have made more of the fiddleMusicians: Alison Krauss & Urban StationComposer: VariousCountry singer and fiddler Alison Krauss has just turned 40 and has been performing with Union Station for over half of her life, although this is ...
-
ArticleDavies: Linguae ignis, Vesalii icones, Fantasia on a Ground and Two Pavans (after Purcell)
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: The solo cello plays a leading role in some theatrical instrumental worksMusicians: Vittorio Ceccanti (cello) Contempoartensemble/Mauro CeccantiComposer: DaviesNaxos continues its rich association with Peter Maxwell Davies with works for solo cello and instrumental ensemble, in music that is steeped in ritual. The ...
-
ArticleH.D. Koppel: Ternio op.53b, Introduction, Theme with Variations and Epilogue op.86, Cello Sonata op.62. B. Koppel: Professor Herman’s Cellistic Imaginarium
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Inventive cello music by two generations of a Danish familyMusicians: Morten Zeuthen (cello) Amalie Malling (piano)Composer: H.D. Koppel, B. KoppelHerman D. Koppel (1908–98) was a self-trained Danish composer whose music was inspired by Hindemith, Bartók and Nielsen. He was also a concert ...
-
ArticleKodály: Sonata for solo cello op.8, Cello Sonata op.4, Duo for violin and cello op.7
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Virtuoso accounts of Kodály’s classic works for stringsMusicians: Thelma Handy (violin) Lionel Handy (cello) Nigel Clayton (piano)Composer: KodályWhen, six months before the end of World War I, Kodály’s Duo for violin and cello and Sonata for solo cello were premiered in Budapest, ...
-
ArticleSchubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D821 (arr. Tabakova). Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme op.33 (arr. Rysanov). Bruch: Romance in F major op.85
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2011Description: All-round success for a disc of music for viola and orchestraMusicians: Maxim Rysanov (viola) Swedish Chamber Orchestra/Muhai TangComposer: Schubert, Tchaikovsky, BruchHere is one of those recorded occasions where everything seems to have gone well. The Swedish Chamber Orchestra plays with ...
-
ArticleHaydn: String Quartets op. 20
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Sensitive and well-judged period-instrument performances of HaydnMusicians: London Haydn QuartetComposer: HaydnThe players of the London Haydn Quartet, formed in 2001, refer modestly in their booklet notes to gut strings and Classical bows, saying relatively little about performing practice, but in this respect ...
-
ArticleStrauss: Violin Sonata in E flat major op.18. Franck: Violin Sonata in A major
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Warmly rounded accounts of two Romantic violin sonatasMusicians: Catherine Manoukian (violin) Xiayin Wang (piano)Composer: Strauss, FranckThe raw-edged, fresh tone of Canadian-born, former Dorothy DeLay pupil Catherine Manoukian suits the tempestuous Romanticism of these sonatas by Strauss and Franck, and in Xiayin Wang ...
-
ArticleBoccherini: String Quintets in E major op.11 no.5 & C major op.30 no.6, String Quartet in G minor op.32 no.5, Guitar Quintet in D major
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Refined performances that celebrate Boccherini’s Spanish connectionMusicians: Casals Quartet, Eckart Runge (cello) Carles Trepat (guitar) Daniel Tummer (castanets)Composer: Boccherini As we have come to expect from the Casals Quartet, these are refined, elegant and admirably precise performances, with ...
-
ArticleCzech Music for strings. Janácek: Suite, String Quartet no.1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ (arr. Tognetti). Haas: Study. Martinu: Sextet
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A small-scale string orchestra triumphs in a programme of Czech musicMusicians: Janácek Chamber Orchestra/Jakub ?ernohoský (violin/director)Composer: Janácek, Haas, MartinuThe more players there are in a string orchestra, the easier it tends to be to hide slackness in unanimity of attack ...
-
ArticleEastern Europe: A Musical Journey. Janácek: Violin Sonata. Bartók: Fuga from Sonata for solo violin. Enescu: Violin Sonata no.3 op.25. Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel. Brahms: Hungarian Dances nos.1, 17, 19
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A free-spirited traversal of repertoire bound together by geographyMusicians: Alda Dizdari (violin) Tom Blach (piano)Composer: Janácek, Bartók, Enescu, Pärt, Brahms (transcr. Joachim)Alda Dizdari has made quite a musical journey of her own, from her native Albania to Romania, where she discovered the ...
-
ArticleMozart: Violin Concertos no.1 in B flat major K207, no.2 in D major K211 & no.4 in D major K218, Rondo in C major K371, Adagio in E major K261
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: The second and concluding part of a refined Mozart concerto cycleMusicians: Richard Tognetti (violin/director) Australian Chamber OrchestraComposer: MozartThe Australian Chamber Orchestra has a justly renowned reputation, particularly in its years under Sydney Conservatorium-trained Richard Tognetti, the group’s concertmaster since 1989. These are ...
-
ArticleNozeman: Sonatas for violin and basso continuo op.1
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Generic Baroque sonatas enlivened by a rich array of continuo coloursMusicians: Antoinette Lohmann (violin) Furor MusicusComposer: NozemanThese six conservative sonatas (c.1724) by the German-born Dutch composer Jacob Nozeman (1693–1745) comprise a mix of church and largely chamber sonata movement types. Antoinette Lohmann ...
-
ArticleBeethoven: Cello Sonatas nos.1–5, Horn Sonata in F major (arr. cello), Cello Sonata in E flat major, Variations on a Theme from Handel’s ‘Judas Maccabaeus’, Variations on Mozart’s ‘Bei Männern’, Varia
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A compelling collection of Beethoven’s complete music for cello and pianoMusicians: David Geringas (cello) Ian Fountain (piano)Composer: BeethovenDavid Geringas’s performances of the Beethoven cello sonatas reveal exceptional attention to detail and a sure sense of structural architecture. Part of his ...
-
ArticleSentimental Swing
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A hazily recorded disc of jazz standards that doesn’t swing enoughMusicians: Duane Padilla (violin) Stephen Jones (double bass) Tennyson Stephens (piano)Composer: Various Duane Padilla has chosen the most standard of jazz standards for this trio album. So something fairly remarkable ...
-
ArticleMantzaros/Fenaroli: Partimenti for string quartet
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Eighteenth-century harmony exercises that fail to rise above the pedagogicalMusicians: Ionian QuartetComposer: Mantzaros/FenaroliThis example of home industry features recordings of music from a selection of manuscripts housed in the Rombotis Archive in Corfu’s Ionian University, performed by the University’s own ensemble. Although ...
-
ArticleQuartettsatz. Works by Wolf, Webern, Schoenberg, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Sibelius & Rachmaninoff
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A resourceful collection of single movements for string quartetMusicians: Alfama QuartetComposer: Wolf, Webern, Schoenberg, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Sibelius & Rachmaninoff Although named after a colourful district of Lisbon, the young Alfama Quartet (founded in 2005) is based in Brussels, its members ...
