Book reviews – Page 170
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ArticleKodály: Duo for Cello and Violin op.7. Cirri: Duo in G major op.12. Halvorsen: Passacaglia after Handel’s Suite op.7. Glière: Eight Duos op.39
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A virtuoso exploration of music for violin and celloMusicians: Eight Strings: Valeria Nasushkina (violin) Mikael Samsonov (cello)Composer: Kodály, Cirri, Halvorsen, Glière Kodály’s Duo shows his fertile absorption of folk music into an often gritty and dramatically compelling style, a combination of qualities ...
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ArticleMantzaros/Fenaroli: Partimenti for string quartet
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Eighteenth-century harmony exercises that fail to rise above the pedagogicalMusicians: Ionian QuartetComposer: Mantzaros/FenaroliThis example of home industry features recordings of music from a selection of manuscripts housed in the Rombotis Archive in Corfu’s Ionian University, performed by the University’s own ensemble. Although ...
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ArticleMathias: Violin Sonatas no.1 op.15 & no.2 op.94, Violin Sonata (1952)
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: World premiere recordings of three sonatas by a leading Welsh composerMusicians: Sara Trickey (violin) Iwan Llewelyn-Jones (piano)Composer: MathiasNaxos continues its commendable exploration of British music with these premiere recordings of William Mathias’s violin sonatas. Given the quality of the music, it seems ...
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ArticleMozart: Divertimento in E flat major K563, String Trio in G major Kanh66 (K562e)
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Mixed results from three star players in Mozart’s music for string trioMusicians: Henning Kraggerud (violin) Lars Anders Tomter (viola) Christoph Richter (cello) Composer: MozartMozart’s only large-scale work for string trio is here given a bold, characterful and polished reading of striking freshness ...
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ArticlePeasant Girl. Works by DuOud, Lewis, Hermann, Bartók, Barley, Kodály, N’Dour, Bratsch & Weather Report
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: The violinist returns to her rural roots with an eclectic selection of musicMusicians: Viktoria Mullova (violin) Matthew Barley Ensemble Composer: DuOud, Lewis, Hermann, Bartók, Barley, Kodály, N’Dour, Bratsch & Weather ReportViktoria Mullova has teamed up with cellist ...
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ArticlePijper: Violin sonatas nos.1 & 2, Sonata for solo violin ESCHER Violin Sonata. Voormolen: Pastorale. De Leeuw: Sonatina. Graffin/Blanken: Improvisation on ‘Midden in de winternacht’
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A rare outing on disc for 20th-century Dutch violin musicMusicians: Philippe Graffin (violin) Jelger Blanken (piano)Composer: Pijper, Escher, Voormolen, De Leeuw, Graffin/BlankenA whole disc of little-known Dutch music might seem an esoteric proposition, but French violinist Philippe Graffin’s sumptuous, committed performances make ...
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ArticleQuartettsatz. Works by Wolf, Webern, Schoenberg, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Sibelius & Rachmaninoff
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A resourceful collection of single movements for string quartetMusicians: Alfama QuartetComposer: Wolf, Webern, Schoenberg, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Sibelius & Rachmaninoff Although named after a colourful district of Lisbon, the young Alfama Quartet (founded in 2005) is based in Brussels, its members ...
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ArticleThe Seventeenth-Century Violin. Works by Matteis the elder, Matteis the younger, Baltzer, Biber, Westhoff & Bach
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Spontaneous accounts of early violin music from a past master of the fieldMusicians: Jaap Schröder (Baroque violin)Composer: Matteis the elder, Matteis the younger, Baltzer, Biber, Westhoff & BachJaap Schröder’s imaginative anthology demonstrates the virtuosity, lyricism and rhetoric with which German or Italian ...
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ArticleBacewicz: Violin Concertos nos.2, 4 & 5
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Alluring accounts of three concertos by a Polish composer–violinistMusicians: Joanna Kurkowicz (violin) Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Lukasz BorowiczComposer: BacewiczUntil her retirement from the concert stage in the early 1950s as the result of a serious car accident, Polish composer–violinist Gra?yna Bacewicz was her ...
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ArticleBlake: Spieltrieb op.594, A Month in the Country op.611, Leda and the Swan op.249a, String Trio op.199, Walking on Air from ‘The Snowman Suite’ op.615
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Concert works by a composer better known for his film and TV scoresMusicians: Edinburgh QuartetComposer: BlakeWhile the opus numbers in the list of works above point to Howard Blake as being a highly prolific composer, much of that work is music for ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartet in G major op.18 no.2. Schubert: String Quartet in C minor D703 ‘Quartettsatz’. Szymanowski: String Quartet no.1 in C major op.37. Webern: Langsamer Satz
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Szymanowski is successfully put in the context of music that inspired himMusicians: Szymanowski QuartetComposer: Beethoven, Schubert, Szymanowski, WebernI have never experienced in the concert hall or on disc such an elegant account of the second of Beethoven’s op.18 quartets as this. The ...
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ArticleByrd: Complete consort music
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Performances of Byrd’s viol music that glow with subtle colouringMusicians: PhantasmComposer: ByrdThe courtly art of viol consort playing gave composers in Elizabeth I’s reign a welcome chance to write free from liturgy or poetic texts. William Byrd composed for viols for more ...
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ArticleClimate Changes. Poulenc: Cello Sonata. Debussy: Cello Sonata. Fontyn: Six Climats. Messiaen: ‘Louange Á l’éternité de Jésus’ from Quatuor pour la fin du Temps
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Novel programming marred by slapdash MessiaenMusicians: Jan Pas (cello) Stefano Vismara (piano)Composer: Poulenc, Debussy, Fontyn, MessiaenThis CD is something of a curate’s egg, with three decent performances followed by a fourth, of the ‘Louange à l‘éternité de Jésus’ from Messiaen’s Quartet for ...
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ArticleCorran Raa
Description: Attractive but somewhat shallow Scottish fiddlingMusicians: Janet Lees, Jenny Smith (fiddle) Kath Bruce (piano/vocal) Robbie Leask (guitar)Composer: VariousScottish band Corran Raa takes its name from a sand spit on Taransay, a beautiful Hebridean island that hosts an annual fiddle camp and is currently up for sale (offers ...
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ArticleRespighi: Violin Concerto in A major P49 (rev. & compl. di Vittorio), Aria for strings P32 (transcr. di Vittorio), Suite for strings P41 (rev. di Vittorio), Rossiniana P148
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Standards could be higher in the debut of an otherwise welcome addition to the concerto repertoireMusicians: Laura Marzadori (violin) Chamber Orchestra of New York ‘Ottorino Respighi’/Salvatore di VittorioComposer: Respighi Respighi left the first of his four works for violin and orchestra, a ...
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ArticleSaint-Saëns: Cello Concertos no.1 in A minor & no.2 in D minor, Cello Sonatas no.1 in C minor & no.2 in F major, Romances in F major & D major, Allegro appassionato in B minor, Le cygne, Chant Saphiqu
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: An engaging collection of Saint-Saëns’s complete music for celloMusicians: Luigi Piovano (cello) Nazzareno Carusi, Luisa Prayer (piano) Orchestra del Teatro Marrucino/Piero BellugiComposer: Saint-SaënsLuigi Piovano’s outgoing performances of the two Saint-Saëns concertos perfectly illustrate the spontaneity that happens in live concerts, where the ...
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ArticleSchnittke: Complete Violin Sonatas
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A chance to hear how the eclectic Russian composer’s style changed over four decadesMusicians: Carolyn Huebl (violin) Mark Wait (piano)Composer: SchnittkeAlthough there have been a number of fine recordings of individual Schnittke violin sonatas, this is, as far as I am aware, ...
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ArticleSchubert: Piano Trios in B flat major D898 & E flat major D929, Nocturne in E flat major D897, Sonata in B flat major D28
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A fine set of Schubert’s music for piano trioMusicians: Vienna Schubert TrioComposer: SchubertThough not billed as such, this lovely set makes an apt memorial to the cellist MartinuHornstein, who died in 2009. The recordings were made in 1991, near the end of ...
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ArticleSkouen: Call-Notes: Une soirée d’été…; Hils Domitila!; Nattstykke; Fair Play; … Á travers les paroles; catchme!; O Vilhelm, Vilhelm; Vent!; Scenes from Volven
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Various worlds inform the music of a leading light in Norway’s cultural sceneMusicians: Geir Inge Lotsberg (violin) Johannes Martens (cello) Oslo String Quartet, Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer (voice) Tone Kruse (alto) Ellen Ugelvik (piano) SISU Percussion Quartet, Norwegian Radio Orchestra/Christian EggenComposer: SkouenThis is ...
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ArticleEl Violin Latino
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A warm-hearted tribute to the musical melting-pot of Latin AmericaMusicians: Gregor Huebner (violin) plus various musiciansComposer: Trad ‘So you want to play like a German–Latino violin, for our friend Graciela?’ asks the smoky-voiced Cuban poet Mappy Torres, ...
