All Reviews articles – Page 164
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ArticleViolin with the Polish Soul. Works by Wieniawski, Chopin, Lipinski, Paderewski, Kreisler, Zar?bski, Zarzicki, Szymanowski, Rimsky-Korsakov & Rachmaninoff
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Krzysztof Jakowicz (violin) Robert Morawski (piano)Composer: Wieniawski, Chopin, Lipinski, Paderewski, Kreisler, Zar?bski, Zarzicki, Szymanowski, Rimsky-Korsakov & Rachmaninoff This CD enshrines an hour of deliciously old-fashioned violin playing by the Nestor of Polish violinists, Krzysztof Jakowicz (b.1939). In a recording that closely and ...
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ArticleDéfense de la Basse de Viole contre les Enterprises du Violon et les Prétentions du Violoncelle. Works by M. & R. Marais, Du Boisson, Demachy, Sainte-Colombe Snr & Jr, Morel, Cappus, Dollé, De Caix d’
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ricercar ConsortComposer: M. & R. Marais, Du Boisson, Demachy, Sainte-Colombe Snr & Jr, Morel, Cappus, Dollé, De Caix d’Hervelois, Dornel, Duval, Rebel, Leclair, Corrette, Bodin de Boismortier, Masse, Barrière & CanavasThese recordings are devoted to the French string repertoire around the time ...
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ArticleThe Mosaic Nomad. Works by Gurdjeff & de Hartmann (arr. Solaris Quartet)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Solaris QuartetComposer: Gurdjeff & de Hartmann (arr. Solaris Quartet)Greek–Armenian mystic George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff travelled extensively through Central Asia, Russia and Egypt, collecting sacred, monastic and tribal music and then transcribing and arranging it with the help of Russian composer Thomas de Hartmann ...
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ArticleViolin Faces. Zimmermann: Sonata. Hartmann: Second Sonata. Berio: Sequenza VIII. Kee-Yong Chong: For Another Better World
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Wibert Aerts (violin)Composer: Zimmermann, Hartmann, Berio, Kee-Yong ChongThere’s often a danger of discs of contemporary solo violin music being a bit indigestible for one sitting, particularly if the music is relentlessly percussive, but Belgian player Wibert Aerts has crafted this disc to ...
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ArticleHandel: Concerti Grossi op.6
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Avison Ensemble/Pavlo BeznosiukComposer: Handel These are urbane performances, constantly engaging, fascinating in the minutiae of the playing, the sharing of prominence between parts, and in the conversational ebb and flow of counterpoint. The Avison musicians produce a rich, legato sound, with ...
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ArticleGrieg: Suite From Holberg’s Time op.40, Two Nordic Melodies op.63. Amper: Abrégé. Larsen: Diplom
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Gjermund Larsen (fiddle) Emilia Amper (nyckelharpa) Trondheim SoloistsComposer: Grieg, Amper, LarsenA selection of Grieg’s string music is here played by a crack Norwegian chamber orchestra. The results virtually take my breath away, but I have enough left to report that the playing ...
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ArticleMozart: String Quintets in B flat major K174, C minor K406, C major K515, G minor K516, D major K593 & E flat major K614
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Nash Ensemble, Philip Dukes (viola)Composer: MozartMozart’s complete string quintets comprise four extraordinary works from his maturity alongside two early pieces that probably would not have survived had they not had his name attached. The Nash Ensemble players, however, persuade us that the ...
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ArticleSchumann: Cello Concerto in A minor op.129 (arr. Schumann), Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor op.121. Clara Schumann: Three Romances op.22
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Philippe Graffin (violin) Claire Désert (piano) German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern/Christoph PoppenComposer: R Schumann, C SchumannIt’s strange that violinists haven’t hijacked Schumann’s own violin version of his Cello Concerto, for it makes a more readily attractive work than his subsequent D minor ...
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ArticlePaganini: La Campanella from Violin Concerto no.2 in B minor op. 7, Introduction and Variations on ‘Non più mesta’ from Rossini’s La cenerentola op.12 etc
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Philippe Quint (violin) Dmitriy Cogan (piano)Composer: PaganiniThis disc brings together two of the most famous violinists of all time. Kreisler’s arrangements of Paganini are mainly confined to providing piano accompaniments and they cohesively complement the original works.Philippe Quint, ex-Juilliard School and nominated ...
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ArticleSerebrier: Double Bass Concerto ‘Nueve’, Violin Concerto ‘Winter’, Symphony no.1, Tango en azul, Casi un tango, They Rode in the Sunset – music for an imaginary film
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Gary Karr (double bass) Philippe Quint (violin) Simon Callow (narrator) Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus/José SerebrierComposer: Serebrier ‘Even whilst we speak new notes arise. What is that awful sound?’ The soloist in José Serebrier’s Double Bass Concerto ‘Nueve’ ...
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ArticleWalton: Violin Concerto, Symphony no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Kurt Nikkanen (violin) New Haven Symphony Orchestra/William BoughtonComposer: Walton This disc is the first fruit of a project to record Walton’s music with an eye on the manuscript sources held at Yale University, where the New Haven Symphony Orchestra performs. As ...
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ArticleDragonetti: Quartet no.1, Quintets nos.13, 18 & 31
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Dragonetti’s New Academy: John Feeney (double bass) Loma Mar QuartetComposer: DragonettiDomenico Dragonetti is best known for the reputation he made for himself as a double bassist in London. His music, here represented by string chamber works with bass, is charismatic and quirky ...
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ArticleMartinu: Cello Sonatas nos.1, 2 & 3, Variations on a Slovak Theme, Variations on a Theme of Rossini
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Paul Watkins (cello) Huw Watkins (piano)Composer: Martinu Of all 20th-century composers, Martinu was one of the most generous to the cello and indeed both sets of variations as well as the Second Sonata are firmly established in the repertoire. ...
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ArticleSenza continuo. Sainte-Colombe: Trois Préludes in D minor. Le Sieur de Machy: Suite in G major. Virgiliano: Ricercate for viola bastardo. Bassano: Ricertata quarta. Hume: The First Booke of Ayres (exc
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Margaret Little (viola da gamba)Composer: Sainte-Colombe, Le Sieur de Machy, Virgiliano, Bassano, Hume, MaraisMargaret Little showcases the bass viol’s rich sound world in a solo programme of French, Italian and English music from the Renaissance and early Baroque. She demonstrates total command ...
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ArticleFrench Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Debussy: Violin Sonata, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (arr. Hartmann). Lili Boulanger: Nocturne. Ravel: Violin Sonata. Poulenc: Violin Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Lin He (violin) Gregory Sioles (piano) Composer: Debussy, Lili Boulanger, Ravel, PoulencThis is an attractive programme, with Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne an extra miniature treat. Lin He brings many fine touches to the Debussy Sonata, showing a nice line in whispered intimacy and ...
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ArticleSibelius: Piano Quintet in G minor, String Quartet in D minor ‘Voces intimae’ op.56
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Coull Quartet, MartinuRoscoe (piano)Composer: Sibelius The Coull Quartet, now in its fourth decade, turns to Sibelius for the first time in its extensive discography. A burgeoning symphonist can already be sensed in the epic opening of the early Piano Quintet (1890). In ...
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ArticleLazzari: Violin Sonata in E major op.24, Scherzo in G sharp minor. Andreae: Violin Sonata in D major op.4
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ilona Then-Bergh (violin) Michael Schäfer (piano)Composer: Lazzari, AndreaeIt is always welcome to see artists, particularly of the quality of Ilona Then-Bergh and Michael Schäfer (both of whom are professors at the Munich Hochschule für Musik), championing works that have eluded the so-called ...
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ArticleLachenmann: Gran torso, String Quartet no.2 ‘Reigen seliger Geister’, String Quartet no.3 ‘Grido’
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Stadler Quartet Composer: LachenmannThis highly impressive new disc from Salzburg-based contemporary music specialists the Stadler Quartet serves as an exemplary overview of senior German composer Helmut Lachenmann’s demanding works for string quartet, and also charts something of a relaxing of ...
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ArticleTovey: Air and Variations in B flat op.11, String Quartet in G major op.23
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tippett QuartetComposer: ToveyThe concerted effort by several labels to record Donald Francis Tovey’s oeuvre has at last turned up a masterpiece. The Air and Variations is a major work, lasting just over half an hour, which holds the attention with fertile invention ...
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ArticleScott: Violin Sonatas nos.1 & 3, Sonata melodica
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Clare Howick (violin) Sophia Rahman (piano)Composer: ScottOften referred to as the ‘English Debussy’, Cyril Scott was (unusually for a British composer) a master of liquid piano sonorities. His music’s chromatically-intensified exoticism is reminiscent at times of Scriabin, but without the attendant hysteria, ...
