All Reviews articles – Page 197
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ArticleBartók: String quartets nos.1–3
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: bène QuartetComposer: Bartók For nearly a century composers failed to respond to the painfully introspective soul-searching of Beethoven’s late string quartets – until, that is, Bartók produced his First Quartet in 1908, memorably described by his friend ...
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ArticleDvorák: String Quartets no.1 in A major op.2, no.2 in B flat major, no.3 in D major, no.4 in E minor, no.5 in F minor op.9, no.6 in A minor op. 12, no.7 in A minor op.16, String Quintet in A minor op.
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Zemlinsky Quartet, Josef Kluson (viola)Composer: DvorákDvorák completed his first seven string quartets within a period of 13 years in the flush of youthful creativity, though only the Seventh was published in his lifetime. The present disc uses the performing versions from the ...
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ArticleIl virtuoso. Works by Sarasate, Paganini, Bodorov, Wieniawski, Spohr, Kreisler, Suk & Bazzini
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Miroslav Ambroš (violin) Zuzana Ambrošová (piano)Composer: Sarasate, Paganini, Bodorov, Wieniawski, Spohr, Kreisler, Suk & BazziniThough still a student at the Prague Academy, the 19-year-old Czech violinist Miroslav Ambroš has a quite impressive list of prizes in youth competitions to his name, which ...
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ArticleClarke: Viola Sonata; Passacaglia (on an old English tune); Lullaby; Lullaby on an Ancient Irish Tune; Morpheus; Chinese Puzzle; I’ll Bid My Heart Be Still; Dumka; Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale; Unti
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Philip Dukes (viola) Daniel Hope (violin) Sophia Rahman (piano) Robert Plane (clarinet)Composer: ClarkePaul Cortese recently included Rebecca Clarke’s Lullaby and Grotesque (enchanting miniatures, beautifully written) on a Crystal Records recital, although this extensive Naxos collection gives us a better opportunity to assess ...
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ArticleSchoenberg: Verklärte Nacht. Strauss: Metamorphosen, Sextet from Capriccio
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Concertante Chamber PlayersComposer: Schoenberg, StraussThis is an attractive disc from one of the most enterprising chamber groups to emerge from America over the past decade. The performances, if slightly mixed, feel fresh, committed and versatile, and the programme, bringing together three 20th-century ...
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ArticleEttore Causa. Works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Granados, Chopin, Saint-Saëns, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Fauré, Mendelssohn & Ysaÿe
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Ettore Causa (viola) Ulrich Staerk (piano)Composer: Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Granados, Chopin, Saint-Saëns, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Fauré, Mendelssohn & Ysaÿe The viola world may not be awash with compositions, but I feel cheated when the debut disc from an ...
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ArticleViola VoilÁ . Works by Schubert, Drigo, Vieuxtemps, Cage, Stravinsky, Apituley, Fauré & Piazzolla
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Esther Apituley (viola) Rië Tanaka (piano) Eric Calmes (electric bass) Hans Dagelet (trumpet) Amsterdam Viola QuartetComposer: Schubert, Drigo, Vieuxtemps, Cage, Stravinsky, Apituley, Fauré & Piazzolla This is the second CD by the enterprising Esther Apituley, following Violent Viola (released in 2005). Now ...
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ArticleAngele Dubeau - Solo. Works by Piazzolla, Ridout, Locatelli, Enescu, Glick, Brubeck & Campagnoli
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Angele Dubeau (violin) Blair Williams (narrator) Pierre Lebeau (narrator)Composer: Piazzolla, Ridout, Locatelli, Enescu, Glick, Brubeck & Campagnoli After 30 years of giving concerts, violinist Angele Dubeau, something of a household name in her native Canada, has compiled this eclectic programme ...
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ArticleThe Oregon String Quartet and all that Jazz. Works by Glinsky, Lee, Steinhardt, Baker & Gearhart
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Oregon Quartet, Diane Monroe (jazz violin)Composer: Glinsky, Lee, Steinhardt, Baker & Gearhart The Oregon Quartet’s mission here was to unearth recent jazz- and rock-oriented chamber music for the contemporary audience. The selection of pieces varies in scope as well ...
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ArticleInfluencias. Ravel: String Quartet. ToldrÁ : Vistes al mar. Turina: Oración del torero
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Casals QuartetComposer: Ravel, ToldrÁ , TurinaIt was as a violinist and founder of the Spanish Renacimiento Quartet that the composer Eduard Toldrà was best known. The title was symbolic, for Toldrà (1895–1962) was identified with the Renaixença (‘Renaissance’): a Modernist movement spurring ...
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ArticleMozetich: Affairs of the Heart. Langer: Platch. Schnittke: Concerto for Three. Bennett: Sometimes it Rains
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Roman Mints (violin) Maxim Rysanov (viola) Kristine Blaumane (cello) West Kazakhstan Philharmonic Orchestra, Mikel Toms (conductor)Composer: Mozetich, Langer, Schnittke, Bennett Affairs of the Heart is a 23-minute violin concerto by the Slovenian-born Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich, much inspired by ...
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ArticleGórecki: String Quartet no.3 ‘… songs are sung’
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Kronos Quartet Composer: GóreckiWhere do you go after writing a best-selling Symphony of Sorrowful Songs? Write a quartet of sorrowful songs, it appears. The subtitle is from a poem by the Russian Velimir Khlebnikov: ‘When people die/songs are ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: String Quartets in A minor op.13 & in F minor op.80, Four Pieces op.81
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Elias QuartetComposer: Mendelssohn The Elias Quartet gives fully committed accounts of Mendelssohn’s two most impassioned and adventurous quartets, combining commendable musical intelligence with youthful élan, tenderness and fantasy. Following the poise of the A minor Quartet’s thoughtful, song-based ...
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ArticleBernstein: Serenade. Weill: Violin Concerto op.12
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Régis Pasquier (violin) Picardy Orchestra, Edmon Colomer (conductor)Composer: Bernstein, WeillScored for solo violin, string orchestra, harp and percussion, Bernstein’s five-movement Serenade is typically loaded with extra-musical meaning – in this case five Greek philosopher–poets as featured in Plato’s Symposium, who ...
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ArticleShostakovich: String Quartets nos.6, 8 & 11
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Jerusalem Quartet Composer: ShostakovichThis disc makes me regret that I have not heard the Jerusalem’s first disc of Shostakovich quartets, with nos.1, 4 and 9. If we are to have yet another cycle of all 15, it should ...
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ArticleDvorák: String Quartet in A flat major op.105, Piano Quintet in A major op.81
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Psophos Quartet, Dana Ciocarlie (piano) Composer: DvorákThe Psophos continues on its inconsistent path with this CD, which contains one good performance and one that has sorely tried my patience. The adorable A flat Quartet opens with a ...
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ArticleJ.S. Bach's Suites for solo cello BWV1007–12
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: David Kenedy (cello)Composer: Bach Having been inspired to take up the cello through listening to Casals’s recordings of the Bach suites, it’s perhaps inevitable that David Kenedy, a pupil of Aldo Parisot and Boris Pergamenschikow, should have approached ...
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Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin BWV1001–6, Partita for Solo Flute BWV1013 (arr. viola)
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Scott Slapin (viola)Composer: Bach American violist Scott Slapin’s second recording of Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas features big-boned Bach playing. He uses a modern ‘cut-away’ viola by Hiroshi Lizuka, which is given a warmly vivid personality in this resonant recording. ...
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ArticleBridge: String Sextet in E flat major. Korngold: String Sextet in D major op.10
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: ConcertanteComposer: Bridge, Korngold Composed in 1912, Bridge’s three-movement E flat major Sextet shows an effortless grasp of Straussian chromatic harmony, with typically expert writing for the viola, and a formal control that makes light of the structural ...
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ArticleSaint-Saëns: Cello Sonatas nos.1 & 2, Suite op.16
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Maria Kliegel (cello) François-Joël Thiollier (piano)Composer: Saint-Saëns Saint-Saëns is very much the casino player of composers. Sometimes he is on a lucky streak and his formidable compositional technique is coupled with inspired and delightful invention. At other times, however, ...
