All Article articles – Page 148
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Article
Bow maker and jeweller Henryk Kaston dies aged 100
Henryk Kaston, who enjoyed an illustrious career as a bow maker and a jeweller, has died in New York at the age of 100. Born in Poland, he escaped wartorn Europe to settle in America, where he played violin in the Cleveland Orchestra and then the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. ...
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Remembering bow maker and jeweller Henryk Kaston
Violinist, instrument collector, bow maker, restorer and jeweller – these are the many lives of Henryk Kaston, one of the most venerable figures on the New York music scene. An extremely fit 95-year-old, he happily reveals the secret of his longevity and youthful vigour by demonstrating his morning exercise routine, ...
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ArticleScott: Violin Sonatas nos.1 & 3, Sonata melodica
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Clare Howick (violin) Sophia Rahman (piano)Composer: ScottOften referred to as the ‘English Debussy’, Cyril Scott was (unusually for a British composer) a master of liquid piano sonorities. His music’s chromatically-intensified exoticism is reminiscent at times of Scriabin, but without the attendant hysteria, ...
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ArticleKorngold: String Quartets nos.1–3, Piano Quintet op.15
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Aron Quartet, Henri Sigfridsson (piano) Composer: Korngold The Vienna-based Aron Quartet has put the musical legacy of its home city at the heart of its work, extending beyond the obvious Classics and Second Viennese School to lesser-known areas of ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: Piano Trio no.1 in D minor op.49. Schubert: Piano Trio no.2 in E flat major D929
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Smetana TrioComposer: Mendelssohn, Schubert After focusing largely on recording the Czech piano trio literature, the Smetana Trio celebrates the tenth anniversary of its new incarnation by turning to more staple Romantic fare. Its members perform the restless opening movement ...
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ArticleMiaskovsky: String Quartets no.1 in A minor op.33 & no.13 in A minor op.86
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Renoir QuartetComposer: Miaskovsky Now that the Taneyev Quartet’s trailblazing series of all 13 Miaskovsky string quartets is available on Northern Flowers, collectors can at last gain a sense of this remarkable composer’s achievement, second only to Shostakovich in Soviet Russia. ...
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ArticleTovey: Air and Variations in B flat op.11, String Quartet in G major op.23
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Tippett QuartetComposer: ToveyThe concerted effort by several labels to record Donald Francis Tovey’s oeuvre has at last turned up a masterpiece. The Air and Variations is a major work, lasting just over half an hour, which holds the attention with fertile invention ...
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ArticleLachenmann: Gran torso, String Quartet no.2 ‘Reigen seliger Geister’, String Quartet no.3 ‘Grido’
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Stadler Quartet Composer: LachenmannThis highly impressive new disc from Salzburg-based contemporary music specialists the Stadler Quartet serves as an exemplary overview of senior German composer Helmut Lachenmann’s demanding works for string quartet, and also charts something of a relaxing of ...
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ArticleLazzari: Violin Sonata in E major op.24, Scherzo in G sharp minor. Andreae: Violin Sonata in D major op.4
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ilona Then-Bergh (violin) Michael Schäfer (piano)Composer: Lazzari, AndreaeIt is always welcome to see artists, particularly of the quality of Ilona Then-Bergh and Michael Schäfer (both of whom are professors at the Munich Hochschule für Musik), championing works that have eluded the so-called ...
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ArticleSibelius: Piano Quintet in G minor, String Quartet in D minor ‘Voces intimae’ op.56
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Coull Quartet, MartinuRoscoe (piano)Composer: Sibelius The Coull Quartet, now in its fourth decade, turns to Sibelius for the first time in its extensive discography. A burgeoning symphonist can already be sensed in the epic opening of the early Piano Quintet (1890). In ...
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ArticleFrench Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Debussy: Violin Sonata, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (arr. Hartmann). Lili Boulanger: Nocturne. Ravel: Violin Sonata. Poulenc: Violin Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Lin He (violin) Gregory Sioles (piano) Composer: Debussy, Lili Boulanger, Ravel, PoulencThis is an attractive programme, with Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne an extra miniature treat. Lin He brings many fine touches to the Debussy Sonata, showing a nice line in whispered intimacy and ...
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ArticleSenza continuo. Sainte-Colombe: Trois Préludes in D minor. Le Sieur de Machy: Suite in G major. Virgiliano: Ricercate for viola bastardo. Bassano: Ricertata quarta. Hume: The First Booke of Ayres (exc
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Margaret Little (viola da gamba)Composer: Sainte-Colombe, Le Sieur de Machy, Virgiliano, Bassano, Hume, MaraisMargaret Little showcases the bass viol’s rich sound world in a solo programme of French, Italian and English music from the Renaissance and early Baroque. She demonstrates total command ...
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Article
Israeli Itamar Zorman wins Freiburg International Violin Competition
Itamar Zorman has won first prize at the Freiburg International Violin Competition in Germany. The 24-year-old Israeli, who studies with Sylvia Rosenberg in New York, was awarded €15,000, plus €2,500 for the best interpretation of a Mozart concerto. The €10,000 second prize went to 22-year-old Elena Graf from Germany. Martin ...
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Incorporated Society of Musicians issues Ryanair warning
The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) is urging Ryanair to reconsider its policy of charging violinists and violists for an extra seat in order to fly with their instrument in the cabin. The UK professional body voiced its concerns after a 12-year-old pupil at Chetham's School of Music in ...
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Renato Scrollavezza reunited with violin after six years
A stolen 1958 Renato Scrollavezza violin has been recovered by police. The €25,000 violin was one of two instruments taken from the Parma-based luthier's home in 2004. The original police investigation had gone cold when two weeks ago Scrollavezza's daughter Elisa, also a luthier, suddenly received an email from ...
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Boston's Museum of Fine Arts puts violin audio recordings online
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has put short recordings of violins and other stringed instruments in its collection online. The audio samples include a Bach Gavotte played on a 1641 Amati, a Purcell Prelude on a G.B. Gabrielli of 1761 and a Prelude by Marin Marais played on a French ...
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BBC Proms presenter Katie Derham relearns violin for TV documentary
UK television presenter Katie Derham's rediscovery of the violin is the subject of a new programme showing this Wednesday night. The documentary, part of the 'First Love' series on Sky Arts HD, follows the BBC Proms presenter and former newsreader as she takes up the instrument again after nearly 20 ...
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Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra beams live concert into cinemas
This Friday's opening concert in the Berlin Philharmonic's 2010-11 season will be shown live in cinemas across Europe. More than 30 screens in Germany will carry the high-definition broadcast of the orchestra's performance of Mahler's Symphony no.1 and Beethoven's Symphony no.4, conducted by Simon Rattle. The concert will also be ...
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Article
Chi-Mei Guadagnini violin recovered in Hong Kong
A stolen Italian violin worth around £200,000 has been recovered by Hong Kong police. The Gaetano II Guadagnini of 1835-40 belongs to the Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation in Taiwan. A Taiwanese-American violinist had played the violin in a concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre but fell asleep on the Star ...
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Violinist and former CBSO concertmaster Felix Kok dies at 86
Felix Kok, the violinist who led the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1965 and through the Simon Rattle years, retiring in 1988, died in London on 11 August. An article in The Strad from August 1960 said of Kok: 'The leader of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra since the ...
