All Article articles – Page 162
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ArticleMilhaud: Quatre visages op.238, Viola Concerto no.1 op.108. Ysaÿe: Solo Cello Sonata op.28 (arr. viola). Hindemith: Solo Viola Sonata op.25 no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Susanne van Els (viola) Gerard Bouwhuis (piano) Schönberg Ensemble/Reinbert de Leeuw Composer: Milhaud, Ysaÿe, HindemithThis imaginatively planned CD begins and ends with nicely lilting performances of two of Milhaud’s Quatre visages, its centrepiece being the composer’s First Viola Concerto. Both ...
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ArticlePaganini: Twenty-Four Caprices op.1
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Thomas Zehetmair (violin)Composer: PaganiniApproximately 15 years on from his original Teldec recording of Paganini’s notorious caprices, Thomas Zehetmair’s second reading demonstrates greater technical assurance and musical maturity; even the most challenging passages are mastered with pleasing tone and intonation and with the ...
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ArticleBach: Violin Sonatas and Partitas BWV1001–6
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Alina Ibragimova (violin) The young Russian-born Alina Ibragimova has placed her approach to Bach’s mercilessly revealing Sonatas and Partitas between the warmth of Itzhak Perlman (EMI) and the clean and unadorned sound of Rachel Podger’s Baroque instrument (Channel Classics). Notable among ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: String Octet in E flat major op.20*. Enescu: Octet in C major op.7†
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Christian Tetzlaff*† , Isabelle Faust*† , Lisa Batiashvili*† , Antje Weithaas*, Katherine Gowers† (violin), Rachel Roberts*† , Ori Kam*, Antoine Tamestit† (viola), Tanja Tetzlaff*, Quirine Viersen*† , Gustav Rivinius† (cello)Composer: Mendelssohn, Enescu The exultant, ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra: Violin Concertos in D major op.61 & C major WoO5 (fragment), Romances in G major op.40 & F major op.50
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Orchestre des Champs-Elysées/Philippe HerrewegheComposer: Beethoven Patricia Kopatchinskaja first caught my attention with a coruscating ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata, in which she was partnered by Fazil Say. Her next Beethoven project could hardly be more different: using an instrument in ...
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ArticleCaroline Goulding. Music by Kreisler, Corigliano, Schoenfield, Vieuxtemps & Gershwin, Traditional Cape Breton Island Fiddling*
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Caroline Goulding (violin) Christopher O’Riley, Janine Randall* (piano)Composer: Kreisler, Corigliano, Schoenfield, Vieuxtemps & Gershwin, Traditional Cape Breton Island Fiddling* Every now and then a violinist emerges – Caroline Goulding is still only 16 years of age – who not only has much ...
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ArticleWard: Fantasias and In nomines for five and six viols
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Phantasm, Emilia Benjamin (tenor viol) Mikko Perkola (bass viol)Composer: WardOxford-based viol consort Phantasm, with several award-winning discs already behind it, turns its attention now to the music of John Ward. Born in the reign of Elizabeth I, Ward never held a court ...
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ArticleBach: Viola da gamba Sonatas BWV1027–9, arrangements of arias from Cantatas nos.175 & 183
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Audrey Cienniwa (violoncello piccolo) Paul Cienniwa (harpsichord)Composer: BachAlthough there is no evidence that the violoncello piccolo ever substituted for the gamba in 18th-century performances of these sonatas, Audrey Cienniwa makes an excellent case for adopting this five-stringed instrument, which Bach himself readily ...
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ArticleLees: String Quartets nos.1, 5 & 6
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: Lees These three works by the American composer Benjamin Lees (b.1924) span more than 50 years and reveal a clear development in his musical language. While the First Quartet (1952) sounds very much like a work of ...
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ArticleMendelssohn's String Quintets no.1 in A major op.18 & no.2 in B flat major op.87
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Mannheim Quartet, Jone Kaliunaite (viola) Composer: MendelssohnNietzsche’s description of Mendelssohn as the ‘fine passing phenomenon of German music’ could be applied equally well to the composer’s two string quintets, as both have remained in the shadows despite their significance in the ...
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ArticleIn Memoriam Valentin Berlinsky. Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor op.115. Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major K581
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Borodin Quartet, Julian Milkis (clarinet)Composer: Brahms, MozartRecorded in the Moscow Conservatoire’s Great Hall on 4 January 2000 (the audience is commendably quiet apart from a pair of sneezes just over three minutes into the slow movement of the Brahms), these glowing, well-balanced ...
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ArticleSchubert: Quartettsatz in C minor D703. Mozart: String Quartet in C major K465 ‘Dissonance’. Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E minor op.44 no.2, Andante espressivo from String Quartet in D major op.44
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Elias QuartetComposer: Schubert, Mozart, MendelssohnHaving recently left the Sheffield-based Ensemble 360, the members of the Elias have given themselves the freedom to forge a career as one of the most compelling of the UK’s many young string quartets. Here, caught on the ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Sonatas no.1 in G major op.78, no.2 in A major op.100 & no.3 in D minor op.108, Scherzo in C minor from ‘F.A.E.’ Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Simon Fischer (violin) Raymond Fischer (piano) Composer: BrahmsWell known to readers of The Strad for his regular column on the technique of violin playing, Simon Fischer has been performing the Brahms sonata cycle in concert for over 25 years, though ...
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ArticleSmetana: String Quartet no.1 in E minor ‘From My Life’. Sibelius: String Quartet in D minor op.56 ‘Voces intimae’, Andante festivo
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Kocian QuartetComposer: Smetana, SibeliusWhen I was a lad, people still talked about how Oskar Nedbal played the viola in Smetana’s E minor Quartet. Nowadays we take it for granted that the opening salvos will be thrilling and tonally refulgent. Even ...
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ArticleHubay: Violin Concertos no.1 in A minor op.21 ‘Concerto dramatique’ & no.2 in E major op.90, Scènes de la Csárda nos.3 & 4
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Chloë Hanslip (violin) Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Andrew MogreliaComposer: Hubay The explosive virtuosity of these two concertos by Hungarian violinist and composer Hubay are underpinned by beautifully coloured orchestral writing. Chloë Hanslip is on sparkling form, bringing to bear ...
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ArticleMartinu: Cello Concerto no.1. Foerster: Cello Concerto op.143 j. Novák: Capriccio for cello and small orchestra
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Ji?í Bárta (cello) Prague Philharmonia/Jakub Hr?šaComposer: Martinu, Foerster, NovákApart from three sensational performances, the heroes here are Supraphon’s superb engineers: listen to how in the Foerster the soloist, accompanying solo strings and woodwind snippets are separately miked, so as to produce gossamer-like ...
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ArticleBrahms: String Quintets in F major op.88 & G major op.111
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nash Ensemble Composer: BrahmsBrahms was pleased with his F major Quintet and Daniel Gregory Mason enthuses about it in his book on the composer’s chamber music; but in my experience, it takes a really special performance to bring it off. ...
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ArticleSculthorpe: String Quartets vol.3: nos.14–17
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Goldner QuartetComposer: Sculthorpe The third volume of the Goldner Quartet’s traversal of pre-eminent Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s complete music for string quartet brings things right up to date, with four works from the last eleven years (two more quartets ...
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Article18 Piano Trios Dedicated to Haydn. Works by Krammer, Woolrich, Xiaogang Ye, Doderer, Ndodana-Breen, Sánchez-Verdú, Bolcom, Everhartz, Kakinuma, Fontyn, Hödl, Illés, Schifrin, Schnebel, Schedlberger, K
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Haydn Trio EisenstadtComposer: Krammer, Woolrich, Xiaogang Ye, Doderer, Ndodana-Breen, Sánchez-Verdú, Bolcom, Everhartz, Kakinuma, Fontyn, Hödl, Illés, Schifrin, Schnebel, Schedlberger, Kats-Chernin, Jolas & HarnikTo mark this year’s bicentenary of Haydn’s death, the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt commissioned 18 composers to write a piano trio ...
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ArticleRomantic Violin Concertos. Gade: Violin Concerto in D minor op.56. Lange-Müller: Violin Concerto in C major op.69. Langgaard: Violin Concerto
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Christina Šstrand (violin) Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra/John StorgŠrdsComposer: Gade, Lange-Müller, Langgaard The rather generic nature of these three Danish violin concertos helps to remind us just how individual Carl Nielsen was as a composer in the context of his nation’s music and ...
