All Reviews articles – Page 165
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ArticleKorngold: String Quartets nos.1–3, Piano Quintet op.15
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Aron Quartet, Henri Sigfridsson (piano) Composer: Korngold The Vienna-based Aron Quartet has put the musical legacy of its home city at the heart of its work, extending beyond the obvious Classics and Second Viennese School to lesser-known areas of ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: Piano Trio no.1 in D minor op.49. Schubert: Piano Trio no.2 in E flat major D929
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Smetana TrioComposer: Mendelssohn, Schubert After focusing largely on recording the Czech piano trio literature, the Smetana Trio celebrates the tenth anniversary of its new incarnation by turning to more staple Romantic fare. Its members perform the restless opening movement ...
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ArticleMiaskovsky: String Quartets no.1 in A minor op.33 & no.13 in A minor op.86
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Renoir QuartetComposer: Miaskovsky Now that the Taneyev Quartet’s trailblazing series of all 13 Miaskovsky string quartets is available on Northern Flowers, collectors can at last gain a sense of this remarkable composer’s achievement, second only to Shostakovich in Soviet Russia. ...
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ArticleBrahms: Complete Violin Sonatas
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Jack Liebeck (violin) Katya Apekisheva (piano)Composer: BrahmsIn this fine set Jack Liebeck approaches Brahms with true Romantic fervour. His tone is sweet and effortlessly expressive, his lyrical spans marked by many a tastefully judged portamento. The G major Sonata no.1 ...
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ArticleBull: Nocturne, The Herdgirl’s Sunday, A Mountain Vision, Adagio religioso, Polacca guerriera, Adagio sostenuto, Grand March from Agiaco cubano, Cantabile doloroso e Rondo giocoso, La mélancholie, And
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Arve Tellefsen (violin) HŠvard Gimse (piano) Trondheim Symphony Orchestra/Eivind AadlandComposer: BullThat violin giant Ole Bornemann Bull undertook some composition is not unexpected. His music is largely forgotten today and, without being unduly unkind, this is understandable. These compositions are perfectly pleasant (as ...
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ArticleAcoustic Voyage
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tim Kliphuis (violin) Nigel Clark (guitar) Roy Percy (double bass) David Newton (piano) Sandro Ciancio (percussion)Composer: VariousTim Kliphuis adds piano and percussion to his regular trio for this journey through combinations of Manouche jazz, Scottish folk and Brazilian music. Kliphuis ...
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ArticleDvorák: Cello Concerto in A major ‘Youth’, Waldesruhe, Rondo op.94, Polonaise
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ramon Jaffé (cello) Rheinische Philharmonie State Orchestra/Daniel RaiskinComposer: Dvorák Given the quality of the famous B minor Concerto, who couldn’t but hope that Dvo?ák had written an earlier masterpiece for cello and orchestra? The 1865 A major Concerto, however, ...
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ArticleElgar: Cello Concerto, Sospiri, Salut d’Amour, La capricieuse. Dvorák: Waldesruhe, Rondo op.94. Respighi: Andante con variazioni. Vasks: The Book
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Danish National Symphony Orchestra/Mario VenzagoComposer: Elgar, Dvorák ,Respighi, VasksIn every regard this is an outstanding CD. The recording quality is impressively clear yet warm, the orchestral playing well-honed and incisive, and the repertoire extremely varied. Sol Gabetta shines at ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartet in B flat major op.130, Grosse Fuge op.133
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: Beethoven The Cypress Quartet’s second volume in its series of Beethoven’s late quartets features op.130 and includes both the Grosse Fuge and the composer’s alternative finale. These perceptive interpretations are rigorous and intuitively formed, strong without being overstated, ...
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ArticleSaint-Saëns: Violin Concerto no.3 in B minor op.61, Introduction & Rondo capriccioso. Chausson: Poème op.25. Ysaÿe: Poème élégiaque in D minor op.12
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tedi Papavrami (violin) Liège Philharmonic Orchestra/François-Xavier RothComposer: Saint-Saëns, Chausson, Ysaÿe Tedi Papavrami has two immediate advantages here: he possesses a sound of ravishing purity and he is an out-and-out sensualist who plays these glorious scores with affectionate warmth. Even bearing ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Sonatas in E flat major op.12 no.3 & A major op.47 ‘Kreutzer’
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Viktoria Mullova (violin) Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)Composer: Beethoven Despite my respect for Viktoria Mullova, which has led me to listen to this disc some half-dozen times, I am left with a feeling of frustration. Phrase after phrase from the violinist ...
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ArticleVolupté. Koechlin: Viola Sonata op.53, Quatre petites pièces. Jongen: Concertino for viola and piano op.111, Introduction et danse op.102, Andante espressivo, Allegro appassionato op.79
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Roger Benedict (viola) Ben Jacks (horn) Timothy Young (piano)Composer: Koechlin, Jongen Voluptuous indeed are the sounds embedded in this recording of music from the fin de siècle (in spirit if not always in date of composition). The main work ...
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ArticleBrahms: Cello Sonatas no.1 in E minor op.38 & no.2 in F major op.99, Violin Sonata no.1 in G major (arr. Klengel)
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Torleif Thedéen (cello) Roland Pöntinen (piano)Composer: Brahms Ten years on from recording their Schumann and Chopin disc, Swedish partnership Torleif Thedéen and Roland Pöntinen at last give us some Brahms. This is repertoire ideally suited to the pair. ...
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ArticleBritten: Cello Symphony, Cello Suite no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Pieter Wispelwey (cello) Flanders Symphony Orchestra/Seikyo KimComposer: BrittenBritten’s Cello Symphony makes a timely addition to the suites and Solo Sonata already committed to disc by Wispelwey. Although in the booklet he writes of it as a concerto, his interpretation suggests the subtle ...
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ArticleCage: Etudes boreales for a percussionist using a piano, Harmonies XIII, XXII, XXIV, XXVII, 10'40.3' for a string player from 26’1.1499’’, Etudes boreales for cello solo and piano solo
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Friedrich Gauwerky (cello)Composer: Cage The German cellist and new music specialist Friedrich Gauwerky succeeds here in bringing coherence and structure to two of the most challenging works of 20th-century cello literature, John Cage’s Etudes boreales (1978) and 26’1.1499” (1953–5) (of which ...
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ArticleMetamorphosis. Bartók: String Quartet no.4. Ligeti: String Quartet no.1 ‘Métamorphoses nocturnes’. Kurtág: 12 Microludes op.13
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Casals Quartet Composer: Bartók, Ligeti, KurtágA thought-provoking programme presents Hungarian composers of two generations with much in common: an uncanny ear for string sonority, a tendency towards introversion and a capacity for civilised barbarity. Ligeti and Kurtág show Bartók’s ...
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ArticleCorigliano: Violin Concerto ‘The Red Violin’, Phantasmagoria – Suite from ‘The Ghosts of Versailles’
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Michael Ludwig (violin) Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra/JoAnn FallettaComposer: Corigliano This disc plunges you with carefree abandon into the highly coloured and expressive world of Corigliano. After the expertly performed suite from the composer’s opera The Ghosts of Versailles comes the ...
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ArticleSainsbury: Violin Concerto haydn. Wood: Violin Concerto*
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Lorraine McAslan (violin) BBC Concert Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth, Gavin Sutherland*Composer: Sainsbury, Wood Following on from her outstanding account of York Bowen’s Violin Concerto for Dutton with the late, much-missed Vernon Handley, Lorraine McAslan once again proves a highly persuasive ...
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ArticleCello Quartet – original works by Matz, Laboccetta, Golterman, Paque, Corrette, Grützmacher, Fitzenhagen, Wagenseil, Pahissa, Morera, Huguet & Casals
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tritton Cello Ensemble Composer: Matz, Laboccetta, Golterman, Paque, Corrette, Grützmacher, Fitzenhagen, Wagenseil, Pahissa, Morera, Huguet & CasalsIt’s a pity that the Tritton Cello Ensemble, which boasts three Stradivari and one Gagliano, has largely restricted itself to original quartet works for this disc, ...
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ArticleQSF Plays Brubeck
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Quartet San FranciscoComposer: Brubeck This is hugely enjoyable. With his sophisticated, classically trained approach and unusual time signatures, Dave Brubeck translates well to a string quartet. You lose a lot of instrumental contrast, of course, but the losses are mostly ...
