All Reviews articles – Page 201
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ArticleRawsthorne: String Quartets nos.1–4, Theme and Variations for two violins
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Maggini QuartetComposer: Rawsthorne Rawsthorne was not a string player, and listening to these quartets one feels they were conceived for four musical lines rather than for four stringed instruments. It’s rare for them to use any techniques more adventurous than pizzicato, resulting ...
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ArticleThe British Book. Weir: String Quartet. Elgar: String Quartet in E minor op.83. Maxwell Davies: Little Quartets nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Reinhold QuartetComposer: Weir, Elgar, Maxwell DaviesIt is tempting to wonder whether a British ensemble would package together the works of, say, Henze, Stockhausen and Rihm and call it The German Book. There does seem to be a whiff of the exotic in ...
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ArticleIves: String Quartets nos.1 & 2, Scherzo
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Blair QuartetComposer: Ives The Blair Quartet brings many good qualities to Ives’s idiosyncratic quartets, not least the ability to bind their more bizarre aspects together with conviction. There is a muscularity to this playing, emphasised by the clear, dry recording, which aptly ...
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ArticleBacewicz: Violin Sonatas nos.1-5, Partita, Humoreske, Kolysanka, Witraz, Melodia, Two Oberki, Concertino, Caprice, Theme with Variations, Three Dances
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Piotr Plawner (violin) Ewa Kupiec (piano)Composer: Bacewicz The Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz was herself a violinist of distinction, who studied with André Touret and Carl Flesch, as well as mastering composition with Nadia Boulanger. Bacewicz’s ...
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ArticleJanácek: Violin Sonata. Respighi: Violin Sonata in B minor. Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat major.
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Frank Almond (violin) William Wolfram (piano)Composer: Janácek, Respighi, Strauss Despite the supreme advocacy of Kyung-Wha Chung and Krystian Zimerman on an award-winning Deutsche Grammophon release back in 1990, the Respighi Sonata has failed to make much of ...
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ArticleDebussy: String Quartet in G minor. Stravinsky: Concertino, Three Pieces for String Quartet, Double Canon. Fauré: String Quartet in E minor
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ysaÿe QuartetComposer: Debussy, Stravinsky, Fauré The last quarter of a century has witnessed a revolution in the technical proficiency of the professional string quartet. While there have always been ensembles of exemplary finesse and taste, the ...
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Article
Bliss: Violin Concerto, A Colour Symphony
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Lydia Mordkovitch (violin), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox (conductor)Composer: BlissArthur Bliss’s Violin Concerto, written for Alfredo Campoli, is conceived in the Romantic and heroic vein typical of Bliss’s music. Lydia Mordkovitch proves an ideal, passionate advocate, stamping her personality and ...
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ArticleInventions. Duos for violin and cello by Bach (transcr. Frederick Neumann), Eisler, Beffa, Bartók (transcr. Karl Kraemer), Klein, Martinu & Kreisler*
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Renaud Capuçon (violin) Gautier Capuçon (cello) Aude Capuçon (piano)*Composer: Bach (transcr. Frederick Neumann), Eisler, Beffa, Bartók (transcr. Karl Kraemer), Klein, Martinu & Kreisler*Clearly sibling ensembles can reap wonderful musical rewards when the added ingredient is a magically intuitive sense of communication. Renaud ...
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ArticleLátigo. Tango arrangements
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Quartet San Francisco, John Santos (percussion)Composer: VariousWhen it comes to tango, Quartet San Francisco has an international, prize-winning reputation to uphold. Látigo comprises a selection of the established canon (arranged largely by violinist Cohen and including a percussion cameo), with a couple ...
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ArticleMarx: Quartetto in modo antico, Quartetto in modo classico, Quartetto chromatico
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Thomas Christian Ensemble Composer: MarxJoseph Marx’s delightfully lyrical Quartetto in modo antico dates from the late 1930s, the time when Germany annexed the composer’s native Austria. It feels almost as if Marx (1882–1964), though a contemporary of Webern and Bartók, were ...
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ArticleTiempo de angel. Piazzolla: Verano porteño, Milonga del angel, Fuga y misterio, Oblivion, Contrabajisimo, Melody in A minor, Muerte del angel, Chiquilin da Bachin, Invierno porteño (arr. Christopher D
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: AstoriaComposer: PiazzollaThe tangos of Astor Piazzolla appear in many guises, and the recent moves to establish him within the realms of classical composition have involved many high-profile musicians. Here the Belgian-based group Astoria takes the music back to its birthplace in the ...
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ArticleSchubert: String Quartets in D minor D810 (Death and the Maiden) & in A minor D804 (Rosamunde)
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Takács QuartetComposer: Schubert A strong whiff of mediocrity hangs over this disc, making it uncompetitive in a cruelly crowded market. Nothing is actually bad, but anyone lucky enough to own, say, the Endellion Quartet’s 1997 BBC disc of ...
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ArticleDances for 6. Works by A. Stephenson, R. Petersen, Hofmeyr, Ha!Man, Solomon, Trad. (arr Petersen) & Trad. (arr. Martens)
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: I Grandi VioloncellistiComposer: A. Stephenson, R. Petersen, Hofmeyr, Ha!Man, Solomon, Trad. (arr Petersen) & Trad. (arr. Martens) On paper a disc of works by totally unfamiliar South African composers for cello ensemble might not seem an enticing prospect. Yet by utilising imaginative ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Concerto in D major op.61, Leonore Overture no.3. Wagner: Siegfried Idyll*
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Leonid Kogan (violin) RAI Symphony Orchestras, Turin & Rome*, Rudolf Kempe (conductor)Composer: Beethoven, WagnerWhereas Heifetz never plumbed the depths of the Beethoven Concerto and Oistrakh rarely did so, Leonid Kogan seemed to have the measure of it from the outset. This 1956 ...
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ArticleReich: Different Trains, Piano Phase. Mellits: String Quartet no.2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Duke Quartet, Andrew Russo (piano) Marc Mellits (piano)Composer: Reich, MellitsThe complexity of bringing together a live quartet with a pre-recorded tape containing voice, three string quartets and train sounds is hidden away in a lucid, wonderfully detailed and transparent performance of Steve ...
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ArticleThe Romantic Cello. Chopin: Cello Sonata in G minor op.65, Polonaise brillante op.3. Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor op.19, Vocalise
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Natalie Clein (cello) Charles Owen (piano)Composer: Chopin, Rachmaninoff Having made her debut recording two years ago, 1994 BBC Young Musician of the Year winner Natalie Clein is now launching the first of three discs for EMI with two sonatas by ...
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ArticleLe Violon de Ravel. Ravel: Violin Sonata, Vocalise en forme de habanera (transcr. Georges Catherine), Valses nobles et sentimentales nos.6 & 7 (transcr. Jascha Heifetz), Tzigane, Violin Sonata (1897),
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Diego Tosi (violin) Nathalie Juchors (piano) Annette Abscheidt (harp) La Camerata de FranceComposer: RavelDiego Tosi’s homage to Ravel includes an impressive account of Tzigane in David Walter’s orchestral transcription. Having sustained the tension and improvisatory character of the initial unaccompanied section with ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Violin Sonata op.134, Viola Sonata op.147
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Isabelle van Keulen (violin/viola) Ronald Brautigam (piano)Composer: Shostakovich This is a different view of the Violin Sonata from the 1969 Melodiya recording by David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter made one year after their premiere performance of the score. Seeking ...
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ArticleShostakovich: String Quartet no.8 in C minor op.110; Six Poems by Marina Tsvetaeva op.143 (arr. Auerbach for contralto & string quartet). Auerbach: Cetera desunt: sonnet for string quartet
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Petersen Quartet, Zoryana Kushpler (mezzo-soprano)Composer: Shostakovich, Auerbach One of many impressive details in the Petersen Quartet’s playing of Shostakovich’s landmark Eighth Quartet is its almost Classical poise: the opening is gorgeously serene, which makes the outburst of the fiery ...
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ArticleSchubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D821, Sonatine D384, Das Wandern, Ungeduld, Die Vögel, Wiegenlied, Nacht und Träume. Webern: Three Pieces op.11. Berg: Four Pieces op.5
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) Alexandre Tharaud (piano)Composer: Schubert, Webern, BergSchubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, generally viewed as an enchantingly sunny work, reveals an underlying anguish in the hands of this much-recorded French duo. Queyras writes in the booklet of this anguish, and of ...
