All Reviews articles – Page 200
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ArticleDall'Abaco: 11 Caprices for cello
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Kristin von der Goltz (cello)Composer: Dall'AbacoIf making a CD disseminates an all-but-unknown composer to a wider public, and at the same time is so persuasive that you want to get a copy of the music for yourself, it’s a success ...
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ArticleDvorák: String Quartet no.13 in G major op.106. Janácek: String Quartet no.2 ‘Intimate Letters’
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Artemis QuartetComposer: Dvorák, JanácekThis a stirring performance of the G major Quartet, composed in 1895 to celebrate Dvo?ák’s return to Prague from the United States. What impresses most about the Artemis Quartet’s energised approach is its consistency: throughout, its reading is gritty ...
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ArticleSchumann: Adagio and Allegro in A flat major op.70, Fantasiestücke op.73, Fünf Stücke im Volkston op.102, Märchenbilder op.113 (arr. Piatti). Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D821
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Antonio Meneses (cello) Gérard Wyss (piano)Composer: Schumann, Schubert Antonio Meneses brings a tender beauty almost burdened with sadness to the disc’s opening Schumann Adagio, but this is soon swept aside with the passionate outburst that launches the ensuing Allegro. ...
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ArticleMozart: String Quartet in G major K387. Schubert: Quartettsatz in C minor D703. Debussy: String Quartet op.10. Wolf: Italian Serenade
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Formosa QuartetComposer: Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, Wolf It is unsurprising that the members of the Formosa Quartet, winners of the London International String Quartet Competition last year, were also awarded that competition’s Amadeus Prize for the best Mozart performance. ...
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ArticleKhachaturian: Violin Concerto. Shostakovich: Violin Concerto no.1
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Catherine Manoukian (violin) Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Eduard Topehjan (conductor) Composer: Khachaturian, ShostakovichThis uplifting performance of Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto, one of the undoubted masterpieces of the 20th-century repertoire, comes from musicians associated with the composer’s homeland.The Armenian orchestra’s ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Concertos nos.1–5, Rondos in B flat major K269 & C major K373, Adagio in E major K261
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Johannes Leertouwer (violin/director) La Borea AmsterdamComposer: Mozart Johannes Leertouwer makes much of the fact that his lightly built 1619 Amati comes from the period that Mozart would have had in mind when exploring the contrasts possible by use of the violin’s different ...
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ArticleVanhal: Violin Concertos in G major (WIIb:G3), in G major (WIIb:G1) and in B flat major (WIIb:Bb1)
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Takako Nishizaki (violin) Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Müller-Brühl (conductor)Composer: Vanhal Takako Nishizaki makes a persuasive case for these three of Vanhal’s 15 or so violin concertos, many of which achieved considerable popularity in the 1760s and 1770s. Mozart, ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Cello Sonatas vol.1: Sonatas in F major op.5 no.1, in G minor op.5 no.2 & in A major op. 69
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Zuill Bailey (cello) Simone Dinnerstein (piano)Composer: Beethoven Once one is listening to accomplished performers there is a series of ever finer lines which distinguish the truly great recordings from the rest of the field. Following with the score, it ...
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ArticleJ.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, BWV1001–6
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: John Holloway (violin)Composer: J.S. Bach This is very special indeed. As a distinguished Baroque violinist and Biber interpreter of decades’ standing, John Holloway views the Bach sonatas and partitas as the culmination of a tradition and style, rather than coming to them ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Complete works for violin and piano
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Paul Barritt (violin) James Lisney (piano)Composer: Beethoven It is unsurprising that Paul Barritt and James Lisney share a common view of Beethoven, because their richly toned, expansive interpretations are the results of a recording project extending over a ...
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ArticleBlues. Works by Gershwin, Marshall, Antheil, Debussy, Joplin, Copland & Ravel
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Matthew Trusler (violin) Wayne Marshall (piano) Composer: Gershwin, Marshall, Antheil, Debussy, Joplin, Copland & Ravel On his enterprising new recording label, Matthew Trusler follows up his fine accounts of the Janá?cek, Elgar and Debussy sonatas with ...
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ArticleAdams: The Dharma at Big Sur; My Father Knew Charles Ives
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Tracy Silverman (electric violin) BBC Symphony Orchestra, John Adams (conductor) Composer: AdamsJohn Adams has been honest – unusually so among composers – about the sources of inspiration for two recent orchestral scores. Even so, you wouldn’t need to ...
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ArticleKarlowicz: Violin Concerto op.8, Stanislas and Anna Oswiecimowie
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Dorota Anderszewska (violin) Orchestre National de Montpellier, Friedemann Layer (conductor)Composer: Karlowicz A sustained feeling of joy and rapture pervades this richly Romantic Polish concerto: there are few clouds on the horizon. The noble, spacious opening soon ushers in a ...
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ArticleElegy. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons. Roberts: An English Elegy, Summer Song. Elgar: Salut d’amour. Liszt (arr. Roberts): Consolation no.3. Massenet: Méditation from ‘Thais’. Barber: Adagio for Strings
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Roland Roberts (violin/director) City of Oxford Orchestra, Levon Parikian (conductor)Composer: Vivaldi, Roberts, Elgar, Liszt, Massenet, Barber The disc’s title, ‘Elegy’, refers to a recently composed work by Roland Roberts, a piece that stylistically follows in the footsteps of ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Concertos in G major K216, in D major K218 & in A major K219
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Marianne Thorsen (violin/director) Trondheim SoloistsComposer: Mozart People who invest in expensive hi-fi have a real need for superfine recordings which are also good performances. This package, containing two discs – an ordinary CD and an SACD – with the ...
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ArticleDeclarations: Music Between the Wars’. Janácek: String Quartet no.2 ‘Intimate Letters’. Crawford Seeger: String Quartet. Hindemith: String Quartet no.4 op.22
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Pacifica-QuartetComposer: Janácek, Crawford-Seeger, HindemithComparisons are available for all these works, but they are rendered irrelevant both by the programming and the playing, which reconstruct a sense of what it might have been like to be living through and composing music in the ...
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ArticleBarber: Violin Concerto op.14. Korngold: Violin Concerto op.35. Walton: Violin Concerto
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: James Ehnes (violin) Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey (conductor)Composer: Barber, Korngold, Walton Nearly 79 minutes of wonderful playing: CDs rarely come more generous than this. James Ehnes’s glowing tone and melodic eloquence are nigh-on ideal in these lush works, ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartet in B flat op.130, Grosse Fuge in B flat major op.133
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Endellion Quartet Composer: BeethovenThe opening of this extraordinary work – a serenade in excelsis – invites the listener in, as it is played by the great Endellion Quartet. The contrasts in the slow introduction are fully comprehended ...
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ArticleFauré: Violin Sonata in A major op.13 (arr. cello), Elégie op.24, Romance op.69, Papillon op.77, Sérénade op.98, Sicilienne op.78. Duparc: Cello Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Anssi Kartunnen (cello) Tuija Hakkila (piano)Composer: Fauré, Duparc Cellists have recently acquired a reputation for being pirates of other instruments’ repertoire. And as nothing is safe, it seems only reasonable that Fauré’s sublime First Violin Sonata should enter the ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77, Concerto for violin and cello in A minor op.102
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: David Oistrakh (violin) Mstislav Rostropovich (cello) Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyril Kondrashin (conductor)Composer: BrahmsThe Moscow Philharmonic’s excitable introduction to the Brahms Violin Concerto sets the scene for the whole of this 1963 performance in London’s Royal Festival Hall. David Oistrakh, a very different ...
