All Reviews articles – Page 176
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ArticleRussian Works for Violin and Viola. Kabalevsky: Improvisation op.21. Volkonsky: Viola Sonata. Khandoshkin: Solo Violin Sonata in G minor. Prokofiev: Five Pieces from ‘Cinderella’. Stravinsky: Chanson
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Lydia Mordkovitch (violin/viola) Nicholas Walker (piano) Julian Milford (piano)*Composer: Kabalevsky, Volkonsky, Khandoshkin, Prokofiev, StravinskyTo hear Lydia Mordkovitch at the peak of her interpretative powers is like being thrown back half a century when the likes of David Oistrakh, Isaac Stern ...
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ArticleBruch: Violin Concertos no.2 in D minor op.44 & no.3 in D minor op.58
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Maxim Fedotov (violin) Russian Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitry YablonskyComposer: Bruch To those of us brought up on the famous Menuhin LP of the Mendelssohn E minor and Bruch G minor concertos, comparisons between the two composers are inevitable. Bruch’s heritage creates a ...
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ArticleSchubert: String Quartets in B flat major op.posth.168 & D minor D810 (Death and the Maiden), Quartettsatz in C minor D703
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Voce Quartet Composer: SchubertThe Voce Quartet has a better reason than most to choose Schubert for its debut recording, since as well as coming second in the recent London International Quartet Competition it also walked away with three ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartets in C sharp minor op.131 & F major op.135
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: BeethovenFrom one of the growing number of performer record labels, the American-based Cypress Quartet makes a most auspicious opening to its planned series of Beethoven’s late quartets. The players began their journey towards this cycle since they first began working ...
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ArticleMozart: Complete Sonatas for keyboard & violin vols.7 & 8: Sonatas K10–15 & K26, Allegro in B flat major K372, 12 Variations in G major K374a, 6 Variations in G minor K374b, Fantasia in C minor K396
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Rachel Podger (violin) Gary Cooper (fortepiano/harpsichord) Alison McGillivray (cello)Composer: Mozart This set of two discs, neither of which includes any real blockbusters, completes Rachel Podger and Gary Cooper’s outstanding Mozart project. As with previous issues, these players convey the sensibility ...
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ArticleHaydn: Cello Concertos no.1 in C major & no.2 in D major. Zumsteeg: Cello Concerto in A major
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Sebastian Comberti (cello/director) Orchestra of the Age of EnlightenmentComposer: Haydn, ZumsteegThe intensive quest to locate an 18th-century concerto that will enrich the cello’s repertoire continues. Does this work by Stuttgart cellist Johann Zumsteeg (1760–1802) fit the bill? He undoubtedly offers pleasant operatically ...
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ArticleRachmaninoff: Romance in A minor, String Quartets nos.1 & 2, Morceaux de salon op.6, Vocalise (arr. Press), Two Sacred Songs. Mussorgsky: Hopak (arr. Rachmaninoff)
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Dene Olding (violin), Goldner Quartet, Joan Rodgers (soprano), Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano) Composer: Rachmaninoff, MussorgskyBeyond the Cello Sonata of 1901, Rachmaninoff is hardly remembered for his chamber music. Here, though, is a collection bringing together some of the music he ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Cello Sonatas in F major op.5 no.1, G minor op.5 no.2 & A major op.69
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Friedrich Kleinhapl (cello) Andreas Woyke (piano)Composer: BeethovenI would hope this is the first in a pair of discs containing Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, for it would find a place among the most interesting in the catalogue. By opting for ...
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ArticleWhitty: thirty-nine pages
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Darragh Morgan (violin) Mary Dullea (piano) Composer: WhittyI hadn’t come across composer Paul Whitty, but the booklet note informs that he is director of Sonic Art Research at Oxford Brookes, and, more startlingly, his work has found its way into ...
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ArticlePurcell: Ten Sonatas in Four Parts
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Retrospect Trio Composer: PurcellRetrospect Trio is an offshoot of Retrospect Ensemble, which is in turn an artistically broader reincarnation of The King’s Consort. Sophie Gent and Matthew Truscott alternate as lead violinist in this debut disc, but ...
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ArticleFloodplain
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Kronos QuartetComposer: Various Floodplain, created in one era of American politics and released in another, presents commissions and arrangements of music from around the Middle East.So much of the CD’s effect is bound up in the strength of the ...
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ArticleKnox: Viola Spaces, Viola Spaces Variations on Marin Marais, La valse de la Vineuse, Jonah and the Whale, Ockeghem Fantasy
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Garth Knox (viola/viola d’amore) Johannes Eva, Julien Heichelbech, Marie Petit, Cyprien Busolini, Aurélien Grais (viola) Nathalie Chabot (violin) Agnès Vesterman (cello) Carol Robinson (clarinet) Gérard Buquet (tuba)Composer: Knox Few musicians can claim half as much experience in the performance of ...
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ArticleMozart: Complete Violin Concertos
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Gidon Kremer (violin/director) Kremerata BalticaComposer: Mozart Gidon Kremer’s view of Mozart’s concertos is decidedly spiritoso, with some delightful affettuoso along the way. He and his beloved Kremerata Baltica are very much a double act, bandying phrases back and forth, ...
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ArticleThe Piazzolla Project. Piazzolla: Concierto para quintet, Estaciones porteñas, Fuga y misterio, Suite del angel
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Artemis Quartet, Jacques Ammon (piano)Composer: PiazzollaThe ‘project’ here is simple: to transfer some of Piazzolla’s music into piano quintet, string quartet and piano trio formats, driven by Jacques Ammon and the Artemis’s cellist, Eckart Runge.The idea isn’t mind-blowingly innovative, but the end ...
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ArticleThe Celtic Viol. Airs and dances by O’Carolan, Fraser, Gow, Macpherson, Marshall & Trad. Irish & Scottish
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jordi Savall (viol/fiddle) Andrew Lawrence-King (Irish harp/psalterium) Composer: O’Carolan, Fraser, Gow, Macpherson, Marshall & Trad. Irish & Scottish Jordi Savall’s constant musical inquisitiveness, which has already taken him among many other places round the courts of mediaeval ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77. Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major op.35
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nikolaj Znaider (violin) Vienna Philharmonic/Valery GergievComposer: Brahms, KorngoldNikolaj Znaider’s CD releases have so far been select enough to make each new one an event, and this coupling of two concertos with Viennese connections is no exception. Znaider adopts an unusually ...
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ArticlePaganini: Variations on ‘Nel cor più non mi sento’ op.38, ‘God save the King op.9. Bartók: Sonata for solo violin. Skalkottas: Sonata for solo violin. Ysaÿe: Sonata no.6 for solo violin op.27 no.6
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: George Zacharias (violin)Composer: Paganini, Bartók, Skalkottas, YsaÿeBy any standards this is an outstanding disc debut. George Zacharias, a young Greek violinist, studied in Athens with Despotidis, in London with Zivoni and in Sydney with Wilkomirska. He has been doing a ...
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ArticleConcertos of the 21st century. B. Mantovani: Cello Concerto. Schoeller: The Eyes of the Wind*. Amy: Cello Concerto†
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra/Günther Herbig, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra/Alexander Briger*, Orchestre de Paris/Gilbert Amy† Composer: B. Mantovani, Schoeller, AmyThree works from the past decade featured here suggest new paths the cello concerto might take ...
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ArticleFauré: Berceuse for violin & orchestra (orch. Gaubert), Élégie for cello & orchestra, Violin Concerto, Romance for cello & orchestra, Ballade op.19 for piano & orchestra, Fantaisie for flute & orchest
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabedian (violin) Henri Demarquette (cello) Juliette Hurel (flute) Jérôme Ducros (piano) Orchestre de Bretagne/Moshe AtzmonComposer: FauréFauré emerges from the drawing room in this interesting collection of concertino works, many better known with piano accompaniments. Although Fauré was not in his element ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Piano Trio in E flat major op.70 no.2. Schubert: Notturno in E flat major D897. Schumann: Piano Trio no.3 in G minor op.110
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: ATOS Trio Composer: Beethoven, Schubert, SchumannThe programme is unhackneyed, the playing is fresh and skilful, with excellent string tone, and the recordings are excellent. The young ATOS Trio from Germany made this American CD as part of its reward ...
