All Reviews articles – Page 161
-
ArticleViolino O Cornetto. 17th-century Italian solo sonatas
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Theresa Caudle (violin/cornett) CanzonaComposer: Various Theresa Caudle’s ‘musical journey through the 17th century’ charts the evolution and progress of the solo sonata in Italy and the development of idiomatic writing for the violin. During its course, she demonstrates the vocal and expressive ...
-
ArticleKreutzer: Violin Concertos nos.17 in G major, 18 in E minor & 19 in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Axel Strauss (violin) San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra/Andrew MogreliaComposer: KreutzerKreutzer’s place in violin pedagogy is well known, and listeners to these concertos can entertain themselves by spotting melodies from his famous 42 Etudes of 1802. Nonetheless, these are fully formed works in their ...
-
ArticleVieuxtemps: Fantasia appassionata op.35, Ballade et Polonaise op.38, Fantaisie caprice op.11, Greeting to America op.56
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Misha Keylin (violin) Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Andrew MogreliaComposer: Vieuxtemps‘My admiration increased to the borders of the improbable,’ wrote the 14-year-old Henry Vieuxtemps, having heard Paganini in London in 1834, and that experience did much to shape his own career as player and ...
-
ArticleBrahms: Violin Sonatas no.1 in G major op.78, no.2 in A major op.100 & no.3 in D minor op.108
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Geneviève Laurenceau (violin) Johan Farjot (piano)Composer: BrahmsThe repertoire may be well trodden, but the young French violinist Geneviève Laurenceau here takes us on an unaffected traversal of the Brahms sonatas. Traditional but unmarked shifts of tempo appear in the G major’s opening ...
-
ArticleSaint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no.1 in A minor op.33, Cello Sonata no.1 in C minor op.32*, Romance op.36† , Sérénade from Cello Suite op.16† , Carnaval des animaux*†
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Henri Demarquette (cello) Boris Berezovsky*, Brigitte Engerer† (piano) Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/Joseph SwensenComposer: Saint-SaënsAlthough Henri Demarquette has selected some well-worn Saint-Saëns ‘chestnuts’, they veritably sparkle on this excellent CD. The First Sonata often comes across as a brilliantly crafted work with ...
-
ArticleSmetana: String Quartets no.1 in E minor ‘From My Life’ & no.2 in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Bennewitz QuartetComposer: Smetana Listeners may justly feel short-changed by this disc’s mere 46 minutes’ duration, but they will not grumble about the quality of these performances. The young, prize-winning Bennewitz Quartet interprets some of its native music with style and intensity, conveying ...
-
ArticleMusic for My Cello. Meyer: Cello Sonata no.2 op.109. B. Hummel: Fantasias 1 & 2. Regner: Vier Abendlieder. Killmayer: Bayerischer Ländler, Kimbrisches Lied mit Tanz. Theodorakis: East of the Aegean
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Julius Berger (cello)Composer: Meyer, B. Hummel, Regner, Killmayer, TheodorakisSeasoned German cellist Julius Berger celebrates collaborations with five composers on this disc of works written for him during a varied career. It’s hardly surprising that Britten’s influence pervades many contemporary solo cello works, ...
-
ArticleBeethoven: Cello Sonata in C major op.102 no.1. Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D821. Brahms: Cello Sonata no.1 in E minor op.38
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Enrico Mainardi (cello) Carlo Zecchi (piano)Composer: Beethoven, Schubert, BrahmsThe attraction of historic recordings is surely to catch a glimpse of legendary musicianship that is magnificent enough to overcome sonic shortcomings – a document that enriches our understanding of both the instrument and ...
-
ArticleKreutzer Time. Beethoven: Violin Sonata in A minor op.47 ‘Kreutzer’. Kreutzer: Violin Sonata. Ries: Violin Sonata in C sharp minor op.71
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Davide Amodio (violin) Edoardo Torbianelli (piano)Composer: Beetrhoven, Kreutzer, RiesDavide Amodio plays on a gut-strung 1793 F. Pique violin for this reading of Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata, partnered by Edoardo Torbianelli on an 1823 Iakesh fortepiano. In the accompanying notes, Amodio avows that they ...
-
ArticleRussian music for cello and piano. Miaskovsky: Cello Sonata no 2 in A minor op.81. Scriabin: Etude op.8 no.11 (arr Piatigorsky). Prokofiev: Adagio op.97b. Schnittke: Musica nostalgica. Rachmaninoff: C
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Wendy Warner (cello) Irina Nuzova (piano)Composer: Miaskovsky, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Schnittke, RachmaninoffWendy Warner and Irina Nuzova confirm themselves as high-ranking artists with this excellently recorded and produced CD of Russian music. Their attractive programme is particularly notable for featuring the lesser-known ...
-
ArticleStill: Danzas de Panama. Dvorák: String Quartet in F major op.96 ‘American’. Barber: String Quartet in B minor op.11. Gershwin: Lullaby
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Serafin QuartetComposer: Still, Dvorák, Barber, Gershwin This disc of (almost entirely) American music opens with an attractive set of dances by William Grant Still, straightforward, lively pieces, played in good café-music style by the Serafin Quartet, lilting and swinging, with ...
-
ArticlePop-pop
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Joan Jeanrenaud (cello) PC Muñoz (electric percussion)Composer: Various An ex-Kronos cellist teams up with ‘art-funk beatmaster’ and producer PC Muñoz here, but don’t be fooled by the title: these short, electronic pieces are pop-influenced up to a fairly limited point.The overdubbed cello ...
-
ArticleDeathless Dance
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ann Marie Calhoun (voice/violin) Composer: VariousAnn Marie Calhoun is an American rock violinist and pop-culture polymath, with credits that include playing with Jethro Tull and Ringo Starr, as an actress and reality-show participant, and as an arranger for film ...
-
ArticleBax: Piano Quintet in G minor. Bridge: Piano Quintet in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tippett Quartet, Ashley Wass (piano)Composer: Bax, Bridge Bax’s Piano Quintet (1914–15) emerges from the same Celtic mists as his most famous tone poems. It makes for a heady concoction, one that Ashley Wass and the players of the Tippett Quartet exploit ...
-
ArticleFolkfire. Villa-Lobos: Song of the Black Swan. Falla: Popular Spanish Song Suite. Stravinsky: Russian Maiden. Vaughan Williams: Six Studies. Bloch: Jewish Song. Michio: Sea in Springtime Calm. Bartók:
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Rebecca Hartka (cello) Azusa Komiyama (piano)Composer: Villa-Lobos, Falla, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Bloch, Michio:, Bartók, PiazzollaThis release is ‘nearly there’. Rebecca Hartka has selected an attractive and entertaining programme of folk-inspired music. However, her project is diminished in its quality by poor engineering ...
-
ArticleBretón: Violin Concerto in A minor. Monasterio: Violin Concerto in B minor
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ara Malikian (violin) Castilla y Léon Symphony Orchestra/Alejandro PosadaComposer: Bretón, MonasterioListening to these neglected products of Spain’s Romantic period, one is reminded just how cosmopolitan the country’s indigenous composers were until the emergence of Albéniz, Granados and Falla. Anyone expecting musical travelogues ...
-
ArticleFiction. Arrangements of pop and jazz standards
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ébène Quartet, Richard Héry (drums), plus guests Composer: VariousVentures into the pop and jazz worlds by mainstream classical musicians are more often than not an unmitigated disaster. The ability truly to swing a phrase, to hang loose and let ...
-
ArticleAir: A Baroque Journey. Music by Falconieri, Handel, Ortiz, Marini, Matteis, Pachelbel, Telemann, Westhoff, Geminiani, Valente, Leclair & Bach
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Daniel Hope, Lorenza Borrani, Lucy Gould (violin) Stewart Eaton (viola) William Conway, Jonathan Cohen (cello) Enno Senft (doube bass) Kristian Bezuidenhout (harpsichord/organ) Stefan Maass, Stephan Rath (lute/guitar/theorbo) Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen (percussion) Composer: Falconieri, Handel, Ortiz, Marini, Matteis, Pachelbel, Telemann, Westhoff, ...
-
ArticleDavid: Violin Concertos nos.4 & 5, Andante and Scherzo capriccioso
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Hagai Shaham (violin) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Martyn BrabbinsComposer: DavidAs Calum Macdonald’s excellent booklet note explains, Ferdinand David was one of the 19th century’s most important violinists, his reputation inextricably linked to the ‘classical’ German tradition. These concertos reveal a personality cognate with ...
-
ArticleSchubert: Violin Sonatas in A minor D385, D major D384 & G minor D408
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Nota bene: Eva Steinschaden (violin) Alexander Vavtar (piano)Composer: SchubertAustrian duo Nota bene, formed at the Salzburg Mozarteum, specialises in the music of the Viennese Classical school. Schubert’s graceful sonatas of spring 1816, with their compact movements and unassuming ease, constitute only the ...
