All Reviews articles – Page 167
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ArticleXenakis: Tetras, Ergma. Lachenmann: Gran torso. Kurtág: Aus der Ferne III. Janácek: Adagio – Con moto from String Quartet no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Danel QuartetComposer: Xenakis, Lachenmann, Kurtág, Janácek This laudable new release from the Brussels-based Danel Quartet features incisive performances of some pretty hardcore avant-garde repertoire in a live concert recording captured at the 2005 Milano Musica Festival. The two Xenakis ...
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ArticleHerzogenberg: String Quintet in C minor op.77, String Quartet no.1 in D minor op.18
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Minguet Quartet, Peter Langgartner (viola) Composer: HerzogenbergHeinrich von Herzogenberg (1943–1900) modelled most of his chamber works on those of his close friend, Brahms, absorbing virtues such as their symphonic breadth, formal clarity, powerful rhetoric and intense harmonic language. The members of the ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: String Quartets in D major op.44 no.1 & E flat major op.‘0’, Tema con variazioni op.81 no.1, Scherzo op.81 no.2
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: New Zealand Quartet Composer: MendelssohnIn their third and final volume of Mendelssohn’s music for string quartet, the New Zealand musicians continue their deeply considered and very serious approach, underlining the drama in the opening movement of the D major Quartet by ...
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ArticleFuse
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Fuse: Linzi Stoppard, Ben Lee (electric violin)Composer: VariousFuse is the debut album by this duo of self-professed stadium-rock wannabes. Presenting faithful reproductions of rock classics, the emphasis is on concept rather than content: namely, ‘proving that the electric violin can be as ...
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ArticleKhachaturian: Cello Concerto in E minor, Concerto–Rhapsody for cello and orchestra
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Dmitry Yablonsky (cello) Moscow City Symphony Orchestra/Maxim Fedotov Composer: KhachaturianKhachaturian’s Cello Concerto (1946) was the last of his triptych of concertos to be written but remains the least known of the three, chiefly as a result of being one ...
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ArticlePassion & Division. Hume: The First Part of Ayres – Captain Humes Musicall Humors
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Susanne Heinrich (viola da gamba)Composer: HumeThis disc comprises selections from Tobias Hume’s The First Part of Ayres – Captain Humes Musicall Humors (London, 1605), which challenged the lute’s preeminence as a solo, ensemble and accompanimental instrument and added an expressive, emotional dimension ...
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ArticleViolinguistics. Beavers: Violin Sonata. Bolcom: The Graceful Ghost Rag. Ching-chu Hu: Snow Ash. Bright Sheng: The Stream Flows. Puckett: Colloquial Threads. Puts: Aria
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Scott Conklin (violin) Alan Huckleberry (piano)Composer: Beavers, Bolcom, Ching-chu Hu, Bright Sheng, Puckett, PutsScott Conklin’s brilliance of tone and charismatic delivery bring a burnished gleam to this disc of American music from the last 30 years. Stylistically it wanders through ...
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ArticleAlto/Multiples. Works by Hindemith, Zimmermann, Berio, Grisey, Nunes, Carter, Binchois (arr. Kröll), Boulez, Ockegham (arr. Maderna), Rihm, D. Gabrieli, Harvey, Gesualdo (arr. Desjardins) & Fedele
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Christophe Desjardins (viola)Composer: Hindemith, Zimmermann, Berio, Grisey, Nunes, Carter, Binchois (arr. Kröll), Boulez, Ockegham (arr. Maderna), Rihm, D. Gabrieli, Harvey, Gesualdo (arr. Desjardins) & Fedele Christophe Desjardins is a long-time member of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, so this set’s title – ...
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ArticleCello Journey. Walton: Theme for a Prince. Hussey: Three Interludes. Parsons: Dove l’anima riposa. Rathbone: When all is said and done. Saxton: Sonata for solo cello. Holdsworth: Lost Time
The Strad Issue: January 2010Description: Cello Journey. Walton: Theme for a Prince. Hussey: Three Interludes. Parsons: Dove l’anima riposa. Rathbone: When all is said and done. Saxton: Sonata for solo cello. Holdsworth: Lost Time Musicians: Tony Woollard (cello)Composer: Walton, Hussey, Parsons, Rathbone, Saxton, HoldsworthTony Woollard should ...
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ArticleMozart: String Quintets in G minor K516 & C minor K406
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Chilingirian Quartet, Yuko Inoue (viola) Composer: MozartFlagging finances, and the need to offer the customary three works for a subscription publication, encouraged Mozart to fashion an unconvincing String Quintet in C minor from his Serenade for six wind instruments. It ...
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ArticleBritten: String Quartets nos.2 & 3, Three Divertimenti
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Elias QuartetComposer: Britten It is a curious fact that the closer Britten’s instrumental writing approximates to the world of his vocal music the happier it invariably sounds. Conversely, the more he attempts to emulate Beethovenian thematicism, the less comfortable ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Cello Sonata in D minor op.40, Two Pieces from Ballet Suite no.2 (arr. Atovmyan), Viola Sonata op.147 (arr. cello)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Michal Ka?ka (cello) Jaromír Klepá? (piano)Composer: ShostakovichAlthough Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata is hardly under-recorded, this release is made more interesting by its coupling with the Viola Sonata. Michal Ka?ka performs this work in its original tessitura as opposed to the arrangement by Daniil ...
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ArticleSchumann: Adagio and Allegro op.70, Fantasiestücke op.73, Fünf Stücke im Volkston op.102, Three Romances op.94 (arr Gledhill), Märchenbilder op.113 (arr Hausmann)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Klaus Storck (cello) Aya Ishihara (piano)Composer: SchumannKlaus Storck, soloist since the age of 12, teacher of generations of cellists and still professor in Cologne, Hanover and Munich, is, claims the booklet, one of the few instrumentalists today to keep the chamber music ...
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ArticleCatoire: Violin Sonata no.1 op.15, Poème op.20 (Sonata no.2), Elégie op.26, Romanze op.1 no.4
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Laurent Albrecht Breuninger (violin) Anna Zassimova (piano)Composer: CatoireGeorgy Catoire was Russia’s answer to the young Gabriel Fauré – a composer of exquisite taste rarely given to wearing his heart on his sleeve, yet whose work possesses a tenderness and rapture that continually ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Sonatas no.1–3
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin) Lambert Orkis (piano)Composer: BrahmsIn the CD booklet Anne-Sophie Mutter dates her love of Brahms’s violin sonatas back to a performance she heard of them given by David Oistrakh when she was five. She has waited until now to record ...
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ArticleYsaÿe: Trio for two violins and viola*, String Trios nos 1 & 2†
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tor Johan Bøen*† , Anders Nilsson* (violin) Are Sandbakken*, Juliet Jopling† (viola) Johannes Martens† (cello)Composer: YsaÿeIt has taken several years of research into manuscripts and sketches to arrive at the performing versions of Eugène Ysaÿe’s string trios used in these ...
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ArticleFauré: Violin sonatas no.1 in A major op.13 & no.2 in E minor op.108, Berceuse, Romance, Andante
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Olivier Thouin (violin) François Zeitouni (piano)Composer: FauréCanadian-born virtuoso Olivier Thouin, currently associate concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, possesses the ideal sound for Fauré’s endlessly supple, elegant writing. Even compared to such distinguished rivals in these timeless scores as Augustin ...
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ArticlePaganini: Caprices op.1 (arr. Zinn)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Wihan QuartetComposer: PaganiniWilliam Zinn’s arrangements transform Paganini’s solo violin caprices into string quartets with fascinating, yet questionable outcomes; for Zinn has freely added his own material, whether as introductory bars (for no.24), harmonic, registral or articulation changes, ornamental elaborations, or harmonic and ...
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ArticleBach: Sonata no.1 in G minor BWV1001, Partita no.3 in E major BWV1006. Ysaÿe: Sonatas no.1 in G minor op.27 no.1 & no.2 in A minor op.27 no.2
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Liza Ferschtman (violin)Composer: Bach, YsaÿeThe programming of this disc is impeccable. Ysaÿe’s solo sonatas are consciously first cousins to Bach’s sonatas and partitas, and in these particular works, with G minor Ysaÿe drawing from Bach in the same key, and ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Cello Sonatas nos.1–5
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Sébastien Singer (cello) Marc Pantillon (piano) Composer: BeethovenTen years into his career as soloist and Schweizer Piano Trio member, Sébastien Singer decided the time was right to tackle Beethoven’s cello sonatas. This high-quality recording with Swiss performers on a Swiss label ...
