All Reviews articles – Page 162
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ArticleBach: Six Trio Sonatas BWV525–30
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Brook Street BandComposer: BachBach was never averse to recycling his music in arrangements for various instruments, so it comes as no surprise that others have been equally tempted. Here we have his six organ sonatas where the keyboard’s right-hand part is given ...
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ArticleLeclair: Six Sonatas for Two Violins op.3. Pachelbel: Canon in D major
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tengfei Zhou (violin)Composer: Leclair, Pachelbel The wonders of modern engineering have allowed Tengfei Zhou to partner himself in this accomplished recording of Leclair’s duet sonatas. There is also a ‘bonus item’ in the form of Pachelbel’s Canon, in which ...
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ArticleStrauss: Cello Sonata in F major op.6. Brahms: Cello Sonata in E minor op.38. Thuille: Cello Sonata in D minor op.22
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Jamie Walton (cello) Daniel Grimwood (piano)Composer: Strauss, Brahms, ThuilleA wonderfully exuberant Strauss Sonata opens this disc, the second of the British duo’s Romantic sonata series. Daniel Grimwood writes in the booklet of the ‘fiendish piano and awkward cello writing’, but there’s no ...
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ArticleThe Celtic Viol vol.2. A homage to the Irish and Scottish musical traditions
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Jordi Savall (treble & lyra viol) Andrew Lawrence-King (Irish harps/psaltery) Frank McGuire (bodhran)Composer: Trad Jordi Savall’s second volume of ‘homage’ to Irish and Scottish musical traditions comprises performances on different types of viol, accompanied, where appropriate, by Irish harp or psaltery, ...
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ArticleSibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor op.47, The Bard op.64, The Wood Nymph op.15
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/John StorgŠrdsComposer: Sibelius This label already has an excellent Sibelius Concerto with this orchestra, but Frank Peter Zimmermann’s fine reading is very different: he knocks three minutes off Pekka Kuusisto’s timing and, because he ...
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ArticleBach: Violin Concertos in A minor BWV1041, E major BWV1042, G minor after BWV1056 & A major after BWV1055
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Rachel Podger (violin/director) Brecon Baroque Composer: BachThis is an elite group of players, with cellist Alison McGillivray and violist Jane Rogers among the solo strings in the ensemble. Rachel Podger, very much primus inter pares, interweaves ...
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ArticleBach: Six Suites for solo cello BWV 1007–12 (incl. three performances of no.5)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Josephine van Lier (cellos)Composer: Bach The countless available recordings of Bach’s Cello Suites cater for a wide divergence of tastes, developed by not only the variety of performing approaches employed but also the widely differing personalities of the artists involved. ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77. Bruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor op.26
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Sarah Chang (violin) Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra/Kurt MasurComposer: Brahms, Bruch Although both of these performances reflect credit on all concerned, it is my impression that the Bruch is rather special, while the Brahms is just another excellent Brahms. ...
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ArticleSzymanowski: Violin Concerto no.1 op.35, Symphony no.3 ‘The Song of the Night’
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Christian Tetzlaff (violin) Steve Davislim (tenor) Vienna Singverein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Pierre BoulezComposer: Szymanowski With a conductor as brilliantly analytical as Pierre Boulez in charge of Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto it would be easy to get swept up in the orchestral ...
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ArticleTchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major op.35. Bruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor op.26
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Nicola Benedetti (violin) Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Jakub Hr?ša Composer: Tchaikovsky, BruchNicola Benedetti comes of age with a coupling that, in terms of its heartfelt lyricism and intonational purity, can hold its own with the best the catalogue has to offer. Those who ...
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ArticleGe Gan-Ru: Fall of Baghdad: String Quartets no.1 ‘Fu’, no.4 ‘Angel Suite’ & no.5 ‘Fall of Baghdad’
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: ModernWorks Composer: Ge Gan-RuGe Gan-Ru was born in Shanghai in 1954, and studied violin at the city’s university before switching to composition, later completing a doctorate at Columbia University in the US. His affinity for string music is immediately clear ...
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ArticleGrieg: Violin Sonatas no.1 in F major op.8, no.2 in G major op.13 & no.3 in C minor op.45
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Alexandra Soumm (violin) David Kadouch (piano)Composer: GriegYouth and vitality pour forth from these delicious recordings of the Grieg sonatas by Moscow-born violinist Alexandra Soumm and French pianist David Kadouch, both in their mid-twenties. Never a note or a gesture is ...
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ArticleJanácek: String Quartets no.1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ & no.2 ‘Intimate Letters’ (in two versions, with viola and with viola d’amore)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Mandelring Quartet, Gunter Teuffel (viola d’amore)Composer: JanácekThis would count as a desirable disc of Janá?ek’s quartets even without its added extra. And quite an extra it is: a second performance of the Second Quartet with a viola d’amore replacing the viola. The ...
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ArticleMethera – In Concert
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Emma Reid, John Dipper (fiddle) Miranda Rutter (viola) Lucy Deakin (cello), Kerr Fagan HarbronComposer: VariousIf you have doubts over whether the string quartet is a natural medium for traditional music – and I did – then Methera will leave you converted. This ...
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ArticleFlights of Fantasy: Early Italian Chamber Music. Works by Castello, Farina, Cavalli, Marini, Legrenzi, Bertali, Frescobaldi & Biber
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Irish Baroque Orchestra Chamber Soloists/Monica Huggett (director)Composer: Castello, Farina, Cavalli, Marini, Legrenzi, Bertali, Frescobaldi & Biber Monica Huggett and her colleagues demonstrate how various Italian or Italian-influenced composers realised the potential of the ascendant violin in the 17th century. The ten works ...
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ArticleHymns and Prayers. Tickmayer: Eight Hymns In Memoriam Andrei Tarkovsky*. Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor† . Kancheli: Silent prayer‡
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Gidon Kremer, Marija Nemanyt?† (violin) Maxim Rysanov† (viola) Giedr? Dirvanauskait?† ‡ (cello) Khatia Buniatishvili† (piano) Andrei Pushkarev* (vibraphone) Sofia Altunashvili‡ (voice on tape) Kremerata Baltica/Roman Kofman*‡Composer: Tickmayer, Franck, KancheliStevan Kovacs Tickmayer’s 2004 work Eight Hymns runs continuously for nearly ...
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ArticleFleur de Paris. Works by Scotto, Fauré, Konyn/Ulmer/Luypaerts, Trenet, Ravel, Legrand, Vandair, Debussy, Luoiguy, Giraud, Satie & Poulenc
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Twelve Cellists of the Berlin PhilharmonicComposer: Scotto, Fauré, Konyn/Ulmer/Luypaerts, Trenet, Ravel, Legrand, Vandair, Debussy, Luoiguy, Giraud, Satie & PoulencWhat an odd collection this is. No sooner do you press the play button than mighty, exaggerated portamentos and sugared harmonies announce that we ...
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ArticleEsperanza Spalding – Chamber Music Society
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Esperanza Spalding (double bass/voice) Entcho Todorov (violin) Lois Martinu(viola) David Eggar (cello) Leo Genovese (piano) Terri Lyne Carrington (drums) Quintino Cinalli (percussion) Gretchen Parlato (voice)Composer: VariousBy combining string- and rhythm-section trios, Spalding brings together her musical childhood and latter development. A violinist ...
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ArticleChants Juifs. Traditional: Kol nidrei, Question, Psaume, Conversation, Prière, Chanson, Kaddish, Incertitude. Zygel: Nigun, Psalmodie, Chemah. Bloch: Nigun, Prière, Supplication, Jewish Song, Méditati
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Sonia Wieder-Atherton (cello) Daria Hovora (piano) Sinfonia Varsovia/JÁ nos FürstComposer: Traditional, Zygel, Bloch, RavelThis beautifully recorded release is a personal voyage for Sonia Wieder-Atherton, whose thoughts both philosophical and autobiographical are printed in the accompanying CD booklet. Although some of the material ...
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ArticleBeethoven's Complete Violin Sonatas
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Renaud Capuçon (violin) Frank Braley (piano)Composer: BeethovenThis distinguished set is the most beautiful cycle of the Beethoven sonatas to appear since that by Dumay and Pires (Deutsche Grammophon). It has more or less the same virtues and its very few ...
