All Reviews articles – Page 203
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ArticleJanácek: String Quartet no.2 ‘Intimate Letters’. Haas: String Quartet no.2 op.7 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Pavel Haas Quartet, Colin Currie (percussion)Composer: Janácek, Haas This beautifully engineered disc offers a brilliant and instructive recording of the oft-recorded Janá?ek Second Quartet. The prizewinning Pavel Haas Quartet comprises four relative youngsters, but the precise calibre of their ...
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ArticleOnslow: Nonet in A minor op.77, String Quintet no.19 in C minor op.44
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Mandelring-Quartet, Ma’alot-Wind Quintet, Wolfgang-GüttlerComposer: OnslowFrench composer George Onslow’s chamber works were popular in Germany and Austria in the early 19th century but were considered too erudite and serious for general public consumption in France. His String Quintet in C minor immediately demonstrates ...
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ArticleBoccherini: String Quintets in D minor op.18 no.5 (G287), in G minor op.29 (G318) and in F major op.41 no.2 (G347)
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ensemble ExplorationsComposer: Boccherini The members of Ensemble Explorations are persuasive advocates of these two-cello quintets. Their sensitive and engaging accounts combine energy, clarity and insight with warmth and affection; furthermore, they sound like real performances, not studio patchwork.Tonally sweet, ...
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ArticleConus: Violin Concerto in E minor. Markov: Taiwanese Improvisation and Formosa Capriccio from Formosa Suite. Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor op16
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Anita Chen (violin/piano) Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dmitry Yablonsky (conductor)Composer: Conus, Markov, GriegJules Conus’s E minor Concerto is rarely performed despite its easy flow of memorable ideas, brilliant solo writing and Tchaikovskian orchestration. Like Glazunov in his delectable A minor Concerto, Conus takes ...
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ArticleRebel: Sonatas for two violins and continuo: no.3 in B flat major ‘L’Apollon’, no.5 in D major ‘La Pallas’, no.7 in C minor ‘Le tombeau de Monsieur de Lully’, no.11 in B flat major (1712), Violin Sona
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Amandine Beyer (violin) Assemblée des Honnestes CurieuxComposer: RebelWritten around 1695, these sonatas emanate from two collections published in 1712 and 1713. They demonstrate Rebel’s absorption of the Italian style and highlight his experimental, often chromatically bold, musical language.These players offer intelligent, idiomatic ...
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ArticleBruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor op.26. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto no.2 in E minor op.64. Ravel: Tzigane
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Niki Vasilakis (violin) Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sebastian Lang-Lessing (conductor)Composer: Bruch, Mendelssohn, RavelThe rhythmically free and spacious initial statement of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto is a foretaste of the personal and unhurried view of the score from the 22-year-old Australian Niki ...
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ArticleRoslavets: Violin Sonatas nos.1, 4 & 6, Three Dances
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Solomia Soroka (violin) Arthur Greene (piano)Composer: RoslavetsNikolai Roslavets (1880–1944) was a key figure in early 20th-century experimental Russian music. He flourished during the immediate post-Revolution years, but fell from grace when Soviet cultural policy shifted dramatically under Stalin.The Three Dances, published in ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor op.99, Violin Sonata op.134, plus DVD documentary A People’s Music
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ruth Palmer (violin) Alexei Grynyuk (piano) Philharmonia Orchestra, Benjamin Wallfisch (conductor)Composer: ShostakovichThe Shostakovich centenary has inspired a flood of new recordings of the A minor Concerto, although none quite compares with the truly astonishing account by the young Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, ...
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ArticleTchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme op.33, Andante cantabile, Pezzo capriccioso op.62, Nocturne. Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no.1 in A minor op.33. Ginastera: Pampeana no.2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Munich Radio Orchestra, Ari Rasilainen (conductor)Composer: Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, GinasteraSol Gabetta and her gorgeous Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello of 1759 combine in a recording of outstanding quality to produce the most beautiful cello sound I have ever heard on disc. ...
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ArticleHonegger: Sonatine no.6 in E minor. Martinu: Duo no.1 H157. Bach: Canon alla duodecima & Canon in hypodiapason from Die Kunst der Fuge. Pintscher: Study I for Treatise on the Veil. Ravel: Sonata for v
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) Heinrich Schiff (cello)Composer: Honegger, Martinu, Bach, Pintscher, RavelWho better to explore this forgotten corner of the string repertory than Frank Peter Zimmermann and Heinrich Schiff, two masters who have been musical partners on and off for more than ...
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ArticleWilliam Primrose – Viola Transcriptions. Zimbalist: Sarasateana. Plus arrangements of works by Borodin, Schubert, Beethoven, Wagner, Aguirre/Heifetz, Valle/Heifetz, Paganini, Villa-Lobos, Bizet, Tchai
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Roberto Díaz, Robert KoenigComposer: Zimbalist, Borodin, Schubert, Beethoven, Wagner, Aguirre/Heifetz, Valle/Heifetz, Paganini, Villa-Lobos, Bizet, Tchaikovsky & Brahms-(transc. Prmirose)William Primrose, in Yehudi Menuhin’s words ‘the first star of the viola’, was fond of peppering his concert programmes with short virtuoso pieces, of which ...
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ArticleSchumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major op.44, Piano Quartet in E flat major op.47
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Schubert EnsembleComposer: SchumannIt is the immaculate recorded balance between piano and strings that sets this disc apart from many others, for despite being a prime requirement, this has been the drawback of many eminently recommendable performances.The opening of the Piano Quintet does ...
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ArticleLeclair: Sonatas, Book 4
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Patrick Bismuth (violin) Valérie Balssa, La TempestaComposer: LeclairJean-Marie Leclair’s fourth book of solo sonatas contains twelve four-movement works in the sonata da chiesa form (ten for violin, two for flute), with a delightful smattering of French dance forms set between Sarabande, Largo ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Sonatas vol.6: Sonatas in A major K402 (385e) & in C major K403 (385c), Piano Sonata in B flat major K570 (arr. for violin & piano), Six Variations in G minor on ‘Au bord d’une fontaine
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Takako Nishizaki (violin) Benjamin Loeb (piano)Composer: MozartThis sixth volume of Mozart’s complete violin sonatas doesn’t actually contain any complete Mozart violin sonatas. Two of them were finished by Maximilian Stadler after the composer’s death, while K570 is a piano sonata with a ...
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ArticleRózsa: Cello Concerto op.32, Sinfonia concertante op.29
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Philippe Graffin (violin) Raphael Wallfisch (cello) BBC Concert Orchestra/Barry WordsworthComposer: RózsaFor all his success as a film composer (he won three Academy Awards), Miklós Rózsa throughout his long life set great store by his ‘serious’ music. Although trained at the prestigious Leipzig ...
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ArticleRomantic Concertos. Röntgen: Violin Concerto in A minor. Chausson: Poème op.25. Hubay: Violin Concerto no.3 in G minor op.99*
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ragin Wenk-Wolff (violin), Dvorák Symphony Orchestra/Stanislav Bogunia, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Dennis BurkhComposer: Röntgen, Chausson, HubayThere is a passionate zeal and imperativeness about these recordings that took me back to my early days as a collector, when I used to pick all kinds ...
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ArticleWriting against War – Bachmann to music. Froom: Piano Trio no.2 ‘Grenzen’. Deutsch: Curriculum vitae. Sterk: Hôtel de la paix*. Lauermann: […übungen in horizontgewinn und traumverlust…]. Mumford: in t
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, Christian Hilz (baritone)*Composer: Froom, Deutsch, Sterk, Lauermann, MumfordHere’s a lovely idea: piano trios by five composers otherwise unrepresented in the UK CD catalogue and united only by a common inspiration, the poetry of Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–73). The direct imagery ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Sonatas no.4 in A minor op.23 & no.7 in C minor op.30 no.2, Variations on ‘Se vuol ballare’ WoO40
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Daniel Sepec (violin) Andreas Staier (piano)Composer: BeethovenThis disc has significant organological interest. Daniel Sepec plays an early 18th-century Austrian violin presented to Beethoven by Prince Lichnowsky around 1800 and recently restored to its original condition, while Andreas Staier masters with a refined ...
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ArticleBridge: Phantasy Piano Quartet in F sharp minor. Howells: Piano Quartet in A minor op.21. Alwyn: Rhapsody for Piano Quartet. Scott: Piano Quartet op.16
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Primrose Piano QuartetComposer: Bridge, Howells, Alwyn, ScottThis is a most attractive programme, gathering together four little-known 20th-century British piano quartets. The performances place them in direct line from Elgar and bypass the German and French influences that fashioned the young Frank Bridge ...
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ArticleJongen: String Trio op.135. Ysaÿe: Le Chimay. De Meester: String Trio
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Goeyvaerts TrioComposer: Jongen, Ysaÿe, De MeesterThis disc features three Belgian composers who were working in the first half of the 20th century, but whose style and output occupied no common ground. Joseph Jongen, today remembered almost entirely for his organ works, was ...
