Book reviews – Page 172
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ArticleVivaldi: La stravaganza op.4 nos.1—6
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Reassuringly sane and richly enjoyable Vivaldi that is surprisingly restrainedMusicians: Fabio Biondi (violin/director) Europa GalanteComposer: Vivaldi Vivaldi came of age with his set of 12 concertos op.4, whose title refers to the music’s tantalising fantasy of invention achieved within strict musical parameters. ...
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ArticleWeinberg: Piano Trio op.24. Shostakovich: Piano Trios nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Trios by Shostakovich and his pupil Weinberg come across forcefully Musicians: Trio VoceComposer: Weinberg, ShostakovichIf the name of the recently formed Trio Voce seems unfamiliar, its members are of immaculate pedigree. Violinist Jasmine Lin is a founder ...
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ArticleDragonetti: String Quintets no.11 in A minor & no.26 in B flat major, String Quartet no.2 in C major. Haydn: Divertimento in C major Hob.II:C5
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: The double bass is given a starring role in chamber music by one of the instrument’s greatest exponentsMusicians: DNA Quintet: Loma Mar Quartet, John Feeney (double bass)Composer: Dragonetti, Haydn The DNA Quintet’s recording project embraces not only Dragonetti’s 31 string quintets and ...
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ArticleGarcía-Fons: Méditerranées
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A lengthy tour of the Mediterranean would have benefited from being more selectiveMusicians: Renaud García-Fons (double bass/tanbur/udu/bendir/cajon/daf/palmas) et alComposer: García-FonsThis clockwise journey around the Mediterranean rim is not, Renaud García-Fons emphasises, mere musical tourism, but a meaningful journey that places melody at its heart. ...
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ArticleItaly versus France. Works by Lully, Corelli, d’Anglebert, Rebel, Muffat, Couperin, Visée & Pasquini
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: The listener is the winner in this battle of musical stylesMusicians: The Bach PlayersComposer: Lully, Corelli, d’Anglebert, Rebel, Muffat, Couperin, Visée & Pasquini Debate over the relative merits of Italian and French musical styles ran through the 17th century. As Hugh Wood ...
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ArticleLe Grazie del Violino nel Seicento Italiano. Works by Marini, Selma y Salaverde, Merula, Pandolfi-Mealli, Fontana, Frescobaldi & Uccellini
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: An effective collection of 17th-century Italian music for violin and harpMusicians: Arparla: Davide Monti (violin) Maria Christina Cleary (harp)Composer: Marini, Selma y Salaverde, Merula, Pandolfi-Mealli, Fontana, Frescobaldi & UccelliniDavide Monti is fleet of left and right hands in this attractive anthology of ...
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ArticleLe Violoncelle Parle. Britten: Suite for solo cello no.3 op.87. Cassadó: Suite for solo cello. Amoyel: Itinérance. Kodály: Sonata for solo cello op.8
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Four highly varied solo cello works are given memorable performancesMusicians: Emmanuelle Bertrand (cello)Composer: Britten, Cassadó, Amoyel, KodályMuch-recorded French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand brings her own blend of flair, elegance and impressive technique to these solo cello staples, resulting in stylish and characterful intepretations.Cassadó’s Suite, ...
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ArticleManto and Madrigals. Duos for violin and viola by Killius, Scelsi, Holliger, Bartók, Skalkottas, Maxwell Davies, Martinu & Nied
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A riveting collection of recent and established works for violin and violaMusicians: Thomas Zehetmair (violin) Ruth Killius (viola)Composer: Killius, Scelsi, Holliger, Bartók, Skalkottas, Maxwell Davies, Martinu & NiedThis adventurous selection of music for violin and viola begins where others end, the one ...
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ArticleVilla-Lobos: Piano Trios nos.1–3. Fernández: Trio brasileiro
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Persuasive performances of early 20th-century music from BrazilMusicians: Damocles TrioComposer: Villa-Lobos, FernándezPosterity may well value Villa-Lobos’s instrumental and chamber music as his most important contribution to the 20th- century repertoire. Though he was to build a reputation as a distinctly South American orchestral ...
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ArticleBach: Sonata no.1 in G minor BWV1001, Partitas no.1 in B minor BWV1002 & no.2 in D minor BWV1004. Reger: Preludes and Fugues in B minor op.117 no.1 & in G minor op.117 no.2, Chaconne in G minor op.117
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A convincing coupling of Bach with a later composer writing under his spellMusicians: Sayaka Shoji (violin)Composer: Bach, RegerThe booklet for this CD does not inspire confidence, transposing Bach’s First Partita into G minor and stating that his whole cycle culminates in the ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Piano Trios in D major op.70 no.1 ‘Ghost’, in E flat major op.70 no.2 & in B flat major op.11
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Well-judged performances of three of Beethoven’s piano triosMusicians: Gryphon TrioComposer: BeethovenAchieving the spectral effects in the second movement of Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Trio calls for great care in balancing instruments. The members of the Gryphon Trio judge it to perfection, and this is just ...
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ArticleBrahms: String Quintet in G major op.111*, Clarinet Quintet in B minor op.115 (viola version)† , Two Songs op.91
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Maxim Rysanov completes his survey of Brahms’s chamber music with violaMusicians: Alexander Sitkovetsky, Mariana Osipova† , Boris Brovtsyn* (violin) Maxim Rysanov, Julia Deyneka (viola) Kristine Blaumane (cello) Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano) Ashley Wass (piano)Composer: BrahmsIf I did not already love the viola, I ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77, String Sextet in G major op.36
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A Brahms concerto and string sextet that ultimately fail to igniteMusicians: Isabelle Faust, Julia-Maria Kretz (violin) Stefan Fehlandt, Pauline Sachse (viola) Christoph Richter, Xenia Jankovic (cello) Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Daniel Harding Composer: BrahmsThere is much to enjoy here, though the Concerto falls between ...
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ArticleC.P.E. Bach: Cello Concertos in A major Wq172, in B flat major Wq171 & in A minor Wq170
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Performances of concertos that make their neglect seem all the more inexplicableMusicians: Truls Mørk (cello) Les Violons du Roy/Bernard LabadieComposer: C.P.E. BachThere are elements of performance practice that defy being categorised as ‘modern’ or ‘period’, not least through generating a ...
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ArticleCorp: String Quartets no.1 ‘The Bustard’ & no.2, Country Matters*
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Two quartets with unusual extra-musical inspirations prove irresistibleMusicians: Maggini Quartet, Mark Wilde (tenor)*Composer: CorpRonald Corp’s First String Quartet, ‘The Bustard’, quite possibly provides the great bird with its only musical perch. A mix of friendship and a love of ornithology fed into ...
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ArticleSaint-Saëns: String Quartets no.1 in E minor op.112 & no.2 in G major op.153
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A welcome release of two rarely heard French quartetsMusicians: Fine Arts QuartetComposer: Saint-SaënsSaint-Saëns’s two string quartets came late in his life and have nothing in common with the lightweight and frothy compositions that had made him famous. We find Germanic influences that ...
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ArticleSchumann: Violin Sonata no.1 in A minor op.105 (arr. Nelleke), Fantasiestücke op.73, Adagio and Allegro op.70, Märchenbilder op.113, Three Romances op.94 C. SCHUMANN Three Romances op.22 (arr. Nelleke
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Some inspirational playing of cello music by the Schumanns marred by imperfectionsMusicians: Karine Georgian (cello) Jan Willem Nelleke (piano)Composer: R. Schumann, C. SchumannIf you like your recordings smooth, silky and seamlessly edited, then this one, made in 2005, may not be for ...
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ArticleBach: Sonatas, Partitas for solo violin BWV1001–6
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A survey of Bach’s solo violin works that can sometimes sound too literalMusicians: Pavlo Beznosiuk (violin)Composer: Bach Pavlo Beznosiuk offers incisive and imaginative readings that convince even if they fail fully to satisfy. Tempos are mostly on the steady side, intonation ...
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ArticleVita. Monteverdi: Madrigals from Book 8 (transcr. Wieder-Atherton). Scelsi: Triphon (excerpts), Dithome, Ygghur (excerpt)
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: An intriguing combination of 17th- and 20th-century Italian music, but ultimately lackingMusicians: Sonia Wieder-Atherton, Sarah Iancu, Matthieu Lejeune (cello)Composer: Monteverdi, ScelsiThere’s a huge amount to admire here. French cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton’s overall conception for her new disc – to juxtapose transcriptions of ...
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ArticleWalton: String Quartet (1919–22), String Quartet in A minor
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A welcome coupling of the English composer’s two contrasting quartetsMusicians: Doric QuartetComposer: WaltonIt’s hard to believe that these two string quartets are by the same composer. The earlier work, a remarkably assured undergraduate ‘essay’, matches Walton’s own description of ‘undigested Bartók and ...
