All Reviews articles – Page 159
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ArticleEnescu: Piano Quartets no.1 in D major op.16 & no.2 in D minor op.30
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Outstanding performances make Enescu’s music sound greater than it isMusicians: Tammuz Piano QuartetComposer: EnescuPerhaps the most significant revolution inspired by the compact disc is the unprecedented breadth of musical repertoire that has become available. As a result, once-neglected figures such as George Enescu have become ...
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ArticleLyapunov: Violin Concerto in D minor op.61, Symphony no.1 in B minor op.12
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A persuasive account of a little-known Russian violin concertoMusicians: Maxim Fedotov (violin) Russian Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitry YablonskyComposer: LyapunovSergey Lyapunov (1859–1924) belonged to that group of composers who arrived too late to be part of the Romantic era, yet were seemingly unable to take on ...
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ArticleMeeting of the Spirits
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Matt Haimovitz (cello) John McLaughlin (guitar) Jan Jarczyck (keyboards) Matt Wilson (drums) UccelloComposer: VariousThe shadow of Villa-Lobos, hard to escape when multiple cellos meet exotic rhythms, pops up several times during these 51 minutes of eclectic string-band jazz from cello octet Uccello. ...
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ArticleFreedom
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Stefano Pastor (violin) Giorgio Dini (double bass) George Haslam (baritone saxophone/tarogato) Claudio Lugo (soprano saxophone)Composer: VariousIf the booklet notes for this free-jazz album, which talk of ‘an expression of militancy and belonging’ and ‘disproportion as free search for a further super-proportion’, give ...
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ArticleVivaldi: The Four Seasons. Piazzolla: Four Seasons
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Daniel Rowland (violin) Stellenbosch University CamerataComposer: Vivaldi, PiazzollaDaniel Rowland and the Stellenbosch University Camerata have been performing this spicy cocktail of eight seasons since the ensemble was formed in 2008. Piazzolla’s Four Seasons, originally written for a small band with the composer ...
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ArticleWallin: Livets Dans (Life’s Dance)
Musicians: Anette Wallin (violin/vocals) Harald Svensson (piano)Composer: WallinAnette Wallin is a Swedish riksspelman (nationally recognised folk musician) who has brought her fiddle, vocal and song-writing skills together here, alongside pianist Harald Svensson.All but two of the songs are Wallin’s own, and they capture the disarming, bold simplicity of ...
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ArticleMéditations. Transcriptions for eight cellos of works by Bloch, Casals, Rachmaninoff, Dvorák, Offenbach, Fauré, Schumann, Wagner, Verdi & Tchaikovsky
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Les Violoncelles FrancaisesComposer: Bloch, Casals, Rachmaninoff, Dvorák, Offenbach, Fauré, Schumann, Wagner, Verdi & Tchaikovsky People usually either love or hate the sound of massed cellos – all that pulsating emotion in every part isn’t for everyone. This disc, with ...
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ArticleViola Transcriptions. Arrangements by Lionel Tertis and William Primrose of works by Haydn, Liszt, C.P.E. Bach, J.S. Bach, Paganini, Fauré, Rameau–Kreisler, Mendelssohn, Boccherini, Schubert, A. Benja
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Yizhak Schotten (viola) Katherine Collier (piano)Composer: Haydn, Liszt, C.P.E. Bach, J.S. Bach, Paganini, Fauré, Rameau–Kreisler, Mendelssohn, Boccherini, Schubert, A. Benjamin, Brahms, Grieg, Kreisler & Saint-SaënsLionel Tertis and William Primrose were the two most influential pioneers of modern viola playing, and a recording ...
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ArticleKorngold: Violin Concerto in D major op.35. Dvarionas: Violin Concerto in B minor, Pezzo elegiaco
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Vadim Gluzman (violin) The Hague Residentie Orchestra/Neeme JärviComposer: Korngold, DvarionasVadim Gluzman brings a joyously unaffected approach to Korngold’s Violin Concerto of 1945. His tone from the start is virile and his articulation pointed rather than over-sugared, and even the opening theme of ...
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ArticleRapsodia. Enescu: Minstrel from Impressions of Childhood op.28, Violin Sonata no.3 ‘dans le caractère populaire roumain. Ligeti: Duo. Kurtág: 8 Duos for violin and cimbalom op.4. Dinicu: Hora staccato
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Emila Kopatchinskaja (violin/viola) MartinuGjakonovski (double bass) Viktor Kopatchinsky (cimbalom) Mihaela Ursuleasa (piano)Composer: Enescu, Ligeti, Kurtág, Dinicu, Ravel, Sanchez-ChiongPatricia Kopatchinskaja returns to her familial roots with this disc, exploring the music of her native Moldova, neighbouring Romania (which ...
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ArticleBarber: Adagio for strings. Mahler: Adagietto from Symphony no.5. Strauss: Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: New Century Chamber Orchestra/Nadja Salerno-SonnenbergComposer: Barber, Mahler, StraussI have long admired Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg’s vibrant musical personality and rare ability to overcome stylistic prejudice by sheer force of musical will and electrifying spontaneity. This is her third season at the helm of the ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Concertos no.3 in G major K216 & no.5 in A major K219, Sinfonia concertante in E flat major K364
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: Febraury 2011Description: Mozart performed with a beguiling 'magic touch'Musicians: Richard Tognetti (violin/director) Christopher Moore (viola) Australian Chamber OrchestraComposer: MozartIt is staggering just how far the orchestral realisation of Classical scores on modern instruments has come in little more than 30 years. Gone ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor op.64, Octet in E flat major op.20
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: James Ehnes (violin) Philharmonia Orchestra/Vladimir Ashkenazy, Musicians of the Seattle Chamber Music SocietyComposer: MendelssohnRecorded at a concert held in Warwick Arts Centre last January, James Ehnes and his conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy bring a very purposeful opening to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto before settling ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Sonatas in F major op.24 ‘Spring’, C minor op.30 no.2 & G major op.30 no.3
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Nemanja Radulović (violin), Susan Manoff (piano)Composer: Beethoven There is an operatic tinge to these live performances. Nemanja Radulović’s playing has the supple fluency of song, with eloquent and poetic use of vibrato, well matched by Susan Manoff, who has made a speciality ...
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ArticleMozart: Duos in G major K423 & B flat K424. Michael Haydn: Duos in C major, D major, E major and F major P127–30
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Maya Magub (violin) Judith Busbridge (viola)Composer: Mozart, Michael HaydnThese works are inextricably linked in history. Mozart ‘ghostwrote’ his two duos as a favour to Michael Haydn, who, due to illness, would otherwise have been unable to complete a commissioned set of six. ...
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ArticleMozart in Italien. Linley: Violin Concerto in F major. Lamotte: Violin Concerto no.2 in D major. Hasse: Sinfonia from ‘Ruggiero’. Rauzzini: Sinfonia in D major. Mozart: Sinfonia in D major K111/120
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Mirijam Contzen (violin) Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic/Reinhard GoebelComposer: Linley, Lamottem, Hasse, Rauzzini, Mozart The focal works in this full concert programme, based on Mozart’s learning experiences in Italy, are the violin concertos of Thomas Linley and Franz Lamotte. Mirijam Contzen, Reinhard Goebel and ...
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ArticleViola altera. Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy op.25. Händel–Halvorsen: Passacaglia. Paganini: Caprices nos.4, 6, 7, 11 & 24, La campanella (arr. Primrose)
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: MÁ tè Szücs (viola) László Fenyö (cello) Daniel Blumenthal (piano)Composer: Sarasate, Händel–Halvorsen, PaganiniThis recording’s title – ‘The Proud Viola’ – and its contents (not to mention a booklet note that deplores the sad fate of viola players, condemned to play just chamber ...
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ArticleBach: Six Suites for solo cello BWV1007–12
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Light, intriguing performances of the later Bach suitesMusicians: Roel Dieltiens (cello) Composer: BachBelgian cellist Roel Dieltiens, for years continuo cellist for Rene Jacobs and principal cello of the Orchestra of the 18th Century, is true to his period roots ...
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ArticleVirtuoso. Tartini: Violin Sonata in G minor ‘Devil’s Trill’ (arr. Kreisler). Bach: Chaconne from Partita in D minor BWV1004. Wieniawski: Légende op.17, Variations on an Original Theme op.15. Franck: V
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Ray Chen (violin) Noreen Polera (piano)Composer: Tartini, Bach, Wieniawski, FranckSuccess in the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition has brought the Taiwanese-born violinist Ray Chen an exclusive recording contract with Sony. It is pleasing to find that his debut release is not simply a ...
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ArticleBach: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin BWV1001–1006
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Sergey Khachatryan (violin)Composer: BachThis is wonderfully expressive playing, of a kind that I was beginning to fear had gone for ever. In an interview I saw, Sergey Khachatryan refused to name role models, but I would be surprised if he ...
