All Article articles – Page 143
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ArticleTchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major op.35. Bruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor op.26
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Nicola Benedetti (violin) Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Jakub Hr?ša Composer: Tchaikovsky, BruchNicola Benedetti comes of age with a coupling that, in terms of its heartfelt lyricism and intonational purity, can hold its own with the best the catalogue has to offer. Those who ...
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ArticleGe Gan-Ru: Fall of Baghdad: String Quartets no.1 ‘Fu’, no.4 ‘Angel Suite’ & no.5 ‘Fall of Baghdad’
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: ModernWorks Composer: Ge Gan-RuGe Gan-Ru was born in Shanghai in 1954, and studied violin at the city’s university before switching to composition, later completing a doctorate at Columbia University in the US. His affinity for string music is immediately clear ...
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ArticleGrieg: Violin Sonatas no.1 in F major op.8, no.2 in G major op.13 & no.3 in C minor op.45
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Alexandra Soumm (violin) David Kadouch (piano)Composer: GriegYouth and vitality pour forth from these delicious recordings of the Grieg sonatas by Moscow-born violinist Alexandra Soumm and French pianist David Kadouch, both in their mid-twenties. Never a note or a gesture is ...
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ArticleJanácek: String Quartets no.1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ & no.2 ‘Intimate Letters’ (in two versions, with viola and with viola d’amore)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Mandelring Quartet, Gunter Teuffel (viola d’amore)Composer: JanácekThis would count as a desirable disc of Janá?ek’s quartets even without its added extra. And quite an extra it is: a second performance of the Second Quartet with a viola d’amore replacing the viola. The ...
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ArticleBach: Six Suites for solo cello BWV 1007–12 (incl. three performances of no.5)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Josephine van Lier (cellos)Composer: Bach The countless available recordings of Bach’s Cello Suites cater for a wide divergence of tastes, developed by not only the variety of performing approaches employed but also the widely differing personalities of the artists involved. ...
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ArticleBach: Violin Concertos in A minor BWV1041, E major BWV1042, G minor after BWV1056 & A major after BWV1055
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Rachel Podger (violin/director) Brecon Baroque Composer: BachThis is an elite group of players, with cellist Alison McGillivray and violist Jane Rogers among the solo strings in the ensemble. Rachel Podger, very much primus inter pares, interweaves ...
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ArticleSibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor op.47, The Bard op.64, The Wood Nymph op.15
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/John StorgŠrdsComposer: Sibelius This label already has an excellent Sibelius Concerto with this orchestra, but Frank Peter Zimmermann’s fine reading is very different: he knocks three minutes off Pekka Kuusisto’s timing and, because he ...
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ArticleThe Celtic Viol vol.2. A homage to the Irish and Scottish musical traditions
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Jordi Savall (treble & lyra viol) Andrew Lawrence-King (Irish harps/psaltery) Frank McGuire (bodhran)Composer: Trad Jordi Savall’s second volume of ‘homage’ to Irish and Scottish musical traditions comprises performances on different types of viol, accompanied, where appropriate, by Irish harp or psaltery, ...
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ArticleStrauss: Cello Sonata in F major op.6. Brahms: Cello Sonata in E minor op.38. Thuille: Cello Sonata in D minor op.22
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Jamie Walton (cello) Daniel Grimwood (piano)Composer: Strauss, Brahms, ThuilleA wonderfully exuberant Strauss Sonata opens this disc, the second of the British duo’s Romantic sonata series. Daniel Grimwood writes in the booklet of the ‘fiendish piano and awkward cello writing’, but there’s no ...
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ArticleLeclair: Six Sonatas for Two Violins op.3. Pachelbel: Canon in D major
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tengfei Zhou (violin)Composer: Leclair, Pachelbel The wonders of modern engineering have allowed Tengfei Zhou to partner himself in this accomplished recording of Leclair’s duet sonatas. There is also a ‘bonus item’ in the form of Pachelbel’s Canon, in which ...
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ArticleBach: Six Trio Sonatas BWV525–30
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Brook Street BandComposer: BachBach was never averse to recycling his music in arrangements for various instruments, so it comes as no surprise that others have been equally tempted. Here we have his six organ sonatas where the keyboard’s right-hand part is given ...
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ArticleSchubert: Violin Sonatas in A minor D385, D major D384 & G minor D408
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Nota bene: Eva Steinschaden (violin) Alexander Vavtar (piano)Composer: SchubertAustrian duo Nota bene, formed at the Salzburg Mozarteum, specialises in the music of the Viennese Classical school. Schubert’s graceful sonatas of spring 1816, with their compact movements and unassuming ease, constitute only the ...
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ArticleDavid: Violin Concertos nos.4 & 5, Andante and Scherzo capriccioso
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Hagai Shaham (violin) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Martyn BrabbinsComposer: DavidAs Calum Macdonald’s excellent booklet note explains, Ferdinand David was one of the 19th century’s most important violinists, his reputation inextricably linked to the ‘classical’ German tradition. These concertos reveal a personality cognate with ...
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ArticleAir: A Baroque Journey. Music by Falconieri, Handel, Ortiz, Marini, Matteis, Pachelbel, Telemann, Westhoff, Geminiani, Valente, Leclair & Bach
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Daniel Hope, Lorenza Borrani, Lucy Gould (violin) Stewart Eaton (viola) William Conway, Jonathan Cohen (cello) Enno Senft (doube bass) Kristian Bezuidenhout (harpsichord/organ) Stefan Maass, Stephan Rath (lute/guitar/theorbo) Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen (percussion) Composer: Falconieri, Handel, Ortiz, Marini, Matteis, Pachelbel, Telemann, Westhoff, ...
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ArticleFiction. Arrangements of pop and jazz standards
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ébène Quartet, Richard Héry (drums), plus guests Composer: VariousVentures into the pop and jazz worlds by mainstream classical musicians are more often than not an unmitigated disaster. The ability truly to swing a phrase, to hang loose and let ...
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ArticleBretón: Violin Concerto in A minor. Monasterio: Violin Concerto in B minor
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ara Malikian (violin) Castilla y Léon Symphony Orchestra/Alejandro PosadaComposer: Bretón, MonasterioListening to these neglected products of Spain’s Romantic period, one is reminded just how cosmopolitan the country’s indigenous composers were until the emergence of Albéniz, Granados and Falla. Anyone expecting musical travelogues ...
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ArticleFolkfire. Villa-Lobos: Song of the Black Swan. Falla: Popular Spanish Song Suite. Stravinsky: Russian Maiden. Vaughan Williams: Six Studies. Bloch: Jewish Song. Michio: Sea in Springtime Calm. Bartók:
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Rebecca Hartka (cello) Azusa Komiyama (piano)Composer: Villa-Lobos, Falla, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Bloch, Michio:, Bartók, PiazzollaThis release is ‘nearly there’. Rebecca Hartka has selected an attractive and entertaining programme of folk-inspired music. However, her project is diminished in its quality by poor engineering ...
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ArticleBax: Piano Quintet in G minor. Bridge: Piano Quintet in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tippett Quartet, Ashley Wass (piano)Composer: Bax, Bridge Bax’s Piano Quintet (1914–15) emerges from the same Celtic mists as his most famous tone poems. It makes for a heady concoction, one that Ashley Wass and the players of the Tippett Quartet exploit ...
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ArticleDeathless Dance
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ann Marie Calhoun (voice/violin) Composer: VariousAnn Marie Calhoun is an American rock violinist and pop-culture polymath, with credits that include playing with Jethro Tull and Ringo Starr, as an actress and reality-show participant, and as an arranger for film ...
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ArticlePop-pop
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Joan Jeanrenaud (cello) PC Muñoz (electric percussion)Composer: Various An ex-Kronos cellist teams up with ‘art-funk beatmaster’ and producer PC Muñoz here, but don’t be fooled by the title: these short, electronic pieces are pop-influenced up to a fairly limited point.The overdubbed cello ...
