All Reviews articles – Page 202
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ArticleJ.S. Bach: Violin Concertos in D minor BWV1052, in G minor BWV1056, in E major BWV 1042 & in A minor BWV1041
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Monica Huggett (violin), SonnerieComposer: J.S. BachAn instinctive period violinist with excellent technical command, Monica Huggett offers positive, largely robust accounts of these concertos, enlivening their outer movements with vital, incisive playing. She is amply assisted by the members of Sonnerie, who, one-per-part, ...
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Article
Rihm: String Quartets vol.4: nos.10 & 12, Quartettstudie
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Minguet QuartetComposer: RihmOne of Wolfgang Rihm’s artistic heroes is the French writer, thinker and (eventually) lunatic Antonin Artaud, famous for his reformulation of modern drama as a Theatre of Cruelty. Artaud wrote that he wanted to restore to the theatre ‘a passionate and convulsive ...
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ArticleBritish Viola Concertos. Walton: Viola Concerto. Beamish: Viola Concerto no.1. Britten: Lachrymae
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Tatjana Masurenko, NDR Radio Philharmonic, Garry WalkerComposer: Walton, Beamish, BrittenTatjana Masurenko keeps growing in artistry every time I hear her. Following an unaccompanied recital (also for Coviello Classics) which I reviewed over two years ago (see The Strad, April 2004), she now ...
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ArticleRihm: String Quartets nos.1, 4, 5 & 8
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Doelen QuartetComposer: Rihm The twelve-ish quartets of Wolfgang Rihm are set fair to define the state of the art of the modern quartet. A bold claim? Well, it’s bold music, and musicians seem keen to measure up to ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Violin Concertos nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Sergei Khachatryan (violin) French National Orchestra, Kurt Masur (conductor)Composer: ShostakovichAnd still they come. Recordings of Shostakovich’s claustrophobically forbidding First Concerto continue to emerge at a dizzying pace that currently shows no sign of abating. Although collectors should on no account miss hearing ...
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ArticleHaydn: Cello Concerto no.1 in C major, Hob. VIIb:1*. Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no.1 in A minor, op.33. Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, op.85
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Mstislav Rostropovich (cello/director*) London Symphony Orchestra, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (conductor)Composer: Haydn, Saint-Saëns, ElgarUntil I was asked to annotate this disc of 1965 concert recordings, I had not heard this particular Rostropovich performance of the Elgar Concerto. I knew his interpretation only from an ...
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ArticleProkofiev: Solo Violin Sonata in D major op.115, Violin Sonatas no.1 in F minor op.80 & no.2 in D major op.94a, Sonata for two violins in C major op.56*, Five Melodies op.35bis, Waltz from ‘War and Pe
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Tatiana Samouil (violin) Boris Brovtsyn (violin)* Plamena Mangova (piano)Composer: ProkofievSt Petersburg-born Tatiana Samouil brings authentic Russian grit to these performances, with real string-biting playing in the Allegro brusco of Prokofiev’s First Sonata and the final Allegro precipitato of the Solo Sonata. What ...
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ArticleBax: Violin Sonatas nos.1 & 3
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Laurence Jackson (violin) Ashley Wass (piano)Composer: BaxArnold Bax was born into a wealthy Surrey family, which enabled him to indulge his passion for composing away from the usual pressures of having to earn a living from it. He travelled widely and settled ...
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ArticleOne and the Same
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Jeff Gauthier, GoatetteComposer: Jeff GauthierThis absorbing programme of hyper-cool jazz features Jeff Gauthier on acoustic violin and on four-string and five-string electric violin. His ‘goatette’ comprises five players, the others being Nels Cline (electric guitar), David Witham (piano and keyboard), Joel Hamilton ...
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ArticleLarcher: Ixxu, Cold Farmer, My Illness Is the Medicine I Need, Mumien
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Christoph Poppen (violin) Thomas Demenga (cello) Thomas Larcher (piano) Andrea Lauren Brown (soprano) Rosamunde QuartetComposer: Larcher Atonality and tonality bonded together by inventive rhythmic patterns provide the Austrian composer Thomas Larcher with a very personal voice. The present disc ...
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ArticleStuart Macrae: Violin Concerto*† , Two Scenes from the Death of Count Ugolino‡§, Motus§, Stirling Choruses† §
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Christian Tetzlaff (violin)* BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor)† Loré Lixenberg (mezzo-soprano)‡ Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Susanna Mälkki (conductor)Composer: Stuart MacraeChristian Tetzlaff brings impressive authority to Stuart MacRae’s Violin Concerto of 2001. He finds grace and rhythmic precision in the ...
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ArticleVoice of the Violin. Works by Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Massenet, Fauré, Dvorák, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Donizetti, Orff, Debussy, Ponce, Falla, Bizet & R. Strauss
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Joshua Bell (violin) Anna Netrebko (soprano) Orchestra of St Luke’s, Michael Stern (conductor)Composer: Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Massenet, Fauré, Dvorák, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Donizetti, Orff, Debussy, Ponce, Falla, Bizet & R. StraussWhat lends this collection distinction is the unerring beauty of Joshua Bell’s playing, his ...
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ArticleRavel: Tzigane, Violin Sonata, Piano Trio, Sonata for violin and cello, Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Susanna Yoko Henkel (violin) Monika Leskovar (cello) Milana Chernyavska (piano)Composer: RavelAs Susanna Yoko Henkel shows from the start in the cruel demands of Tzigane, she has the technical measure of Ravel. This is just as well given the closeness of the microphone. ...
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ArticleMarais: Les folies d’Espagne, Suite in B minor, Le labyrinthe
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ensemble SpiraleComposer: Marais This CD concentrates on Marais’s Deuxième livre de pièces, published in 1701 but comprising music from the previous 20 years. The opening Folies, a first version of which is found in a manuscript from around 1680, ...
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ArticleXenakis: Windungen. Aperghis: Totem. Pascal: Au plus profound d’un étrange rêve éveillé. Roy: Tresses. Globokar: Freu(n)de
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Centre-de-Practique-des-Musiques-Contemporaisede l’ENMD d’Evry Cello Ensemble, Christophe Roy (director), Michael Pozmanter (director)Composer: Xenakis, Aperghis, Pascal, Roy, GlobokarThere’s no question that this French cello choir from the catchily titled Centre de Practique des Musique Contemporaines is a crack ensemble. Its director, Christophe Roy, chooses ...
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ArticleKreutzer: 42 Etudes
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Cihat A¸skin (violin)Composer: KreutzerWhen asked to comment on Rudolphe Kreutzer’s 42 Etudes and Caprices for Violin (1796), the great virtuoso Wieniawski commented, ‘We certainly do not realise how difficult [the etudes] really are and must take care while playing them.’ Before ...
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ArticleBrahms: String Quartet no.3 in B flat major op.67, Piano Quintet in F minor op.34
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Pražák Quartet, Ivan Klánsky (piano) Composer: BrahmsDiscs from this Czech–French label arouse pleasurable anticipation. And although this Brahms programme is not as essential – or as well recorded – as some other items in Praga’s catalogue, it provides ...
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ArticleHungarian Violin Sonatas. Dohnányi: Violin Sonata in C sharp minor op.21. Goldmark: Violin Sonata in D major op.25. Hubay: Sonate romantique in D major op.22
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Peter Csaba (Violinist), Peter FranklComposer: Dohnányi, Goldmark, HubayDohnányi is one of those late-Romantic figures whose exact stylistic proclivities are difficult to pin down. At times he can seem emotionally cool, at others he borders on the effusive; occasionally the virtuoso side of ...
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ArticleCasals: Festivals at Prades vol.2. Works by Bach, Schumann, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert & Mendelssohn
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Pablo Casals (cello/conductor) Yehudi Menuhin (violin) Christian Ferras (violin) Ernst Wallfisch (viola) Végh Quartet, etcComposer: Bach, Schumann, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert & MendelssohnI sometimes wonder if with these retrospective collections of great artists we’re not turning into bargain hunters, snapping up anything ...
