Book reviews – Page 192
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ArticleQuartetto con Forza. Gothe: String Quartet ‘Visioni ed estasi’. Hillborg: Kongsgaard Variations. Mårtensson: String Quartet no.1 ‘Sediments of Discourse’. Pelo: Up, Down Charm, Strange
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Stenhammar QuartetComposer: Gothe, Hillborg, Mårtensson, Pelo This disc brings together string quartets composed within the last five years by four leading Swedish composers, three of whom use the medium to produce sounds rather than conventional thematic material. The exception comes in Anders ...
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ArticleBacewicz: Violin Concertos nos.1, 3 & 7, Overture
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Joanna Kurkowicz (violin) Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Lukasz Borowicz Composer: BacewiczGraz?yna Bacewicz’s centenary this year has remained largely ignored outside Poland, a state of affairs that Joanna Kurkowicz has been determined to rectify by bringing her dedicated and persuasive championing of these concertos ...
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ArticleXenakis: Complete string quartets: Tetras, Tetora, ST-4, Ergma
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jack Quartet Composer: Xenakis The prospect of hearing Xenakis’s complete string quartets in one sitting might sound somewhat indigestible. But this is music of strange and passionate pleasure, and each work is compellingly, sense-assailingly different. The composer’s genius as an ...
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Articlel’improviste
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Barre Phillips, Joëlle Léandre (double bass)Composer: VariousAn album of free improv double bass duets is never going to be for the faint-hearted. Tuneful this ain’t (well, for the most part), but Barre Phillips and Joëlle Léandre are past masters in this genre ...
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ArticleBridge: Piano Quintet, Noveletten, Rhapsody Trio, Lament for two violas, Cherry Ripe, Sir Roger de Coverley
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Bridge Quartet, Michael Dussek (piano)Composer: Bridge An outstanding recital of Bridge chamber works, ranging from those twin miniature ditties Cherry Ripe and Sir Roger de Coverley, to the glorious 1904 D minor Piano Quintet, originally in four movements but reduced ...
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ArticleBruch: Violin Concertos no.2 in D minor op.44 & no.3 in D minor op.58
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Maxim Fedotov (violin) Russian Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitry YablonskyComposer: Bruch To those of us brought up on the famous Menuhin LP of the Mendelssohn E minor and Bruch G minor concertos, comparisons between the two composers are inevitable. Bruch’s heritage creates a ...
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ArticleC. Schumann: Romanzen. Holliger: Romancendres, Gesänge der Frühe
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Christoph Richter (cello) Dénes Várjon (piano) SWR Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart, SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra/Heinz Holliger Composer: C. Schumann, HolligerThis ambitious disc pairs Clara Schumann’s Romances, originally for violin and piano, with Heinz Holliger’s Romancendres, reflections on Robert ...
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ArticleCeltic Twilight. Ball: Violin Concerto, Five Bagatelles for wind trio, From the Hebrides, Celtic Twilight
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Thomas Gould (violin) Paul Arden-Taylor (oboe/cor anglais/recorder) Leslie Craven (clarinet) Celia Birkinshaw (bassoon) Emerald Concert Orchestra/Christopher Ball Composer: BallThe work of principal interest for readers in this fine collection of works by the English composer Christopher Ball (b.1936) is the Violin ...
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ArticleRussian Works for Violin and Viola. Kabalevsky: Improvisation op.21. Volkonsky: Viola Sonata. Khandoshkin: Solo Violin Sonata in G minor. Prokofiev: Five Pieces from ‘Cinderella’. Stravinsky: Chanson
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Lydia Mordkovitch (violin/viola) Nicholas Walker (piano) Julian Milford (piano)*Composer: Kabalevsky, Volkonsky, Khandoshkin, Prokofiev, StravinskyTo hear Lydia Mordkovitch at the peak of her interpretative powers is like being thrown back half a century when the likes of David Oistrakh, Isaac Stern ...
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ArticleSchubert: String Quartets in B flat major op.posth.168 & D minor D810 (Death and the Maiden), Quartettsatz in C minor D703
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Voce Quartet Composer: SchubertThe Voce Quartet has a better reason than most to choose Schubert for its debut recording, since as well as coming second in the recent London International Quartet Competition it also walked away with three ...
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ArticleVivaldi: Violin Concertos vol.3: RV210, RV268, RV307, RV312, RV333, RV350 & RV352
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Duilio M. Galfetti (violin) I Barocchisti/Diego FasolisComposer: Vivaldi This disc delivers more than it promises. The fashionable packaging (with a rather fallacious comparison between Vivaldi’s music and ‘swing’ in the booklet notes) prepared me for something over-marketed and mediocre, ...
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ArticleBaroque Cello Illuminations. Works by Eccles, De Fesch, Vivaldi, Couperin, Sammartini/Berteau & Bach
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Angela East (cello) Ruth Alford (Baroque cello) Howard Beach (harpsichord) Composer: Eccles, De Fesch, Vivaldi, Couperin, SamMartinu/Berteau & Bach Angela East offers an exciting and imaginative showcase for a selection of exam chestnuts, some bypassed in concerts ...
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ArticleHaydn: Cello Concertos no.1 in C major & no.2 in D major. Zumsteeg: Cello Concerto in A major
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Sebastian Comberti (cello/director) Orchestra of the Age of EnlightenmentComposer: Haydn, ZumsteegThe intensive quest to locate an 18th-century concerto that will enrich the cello’s repertoire continues. Does this work by Stuttgart cellist Johann Zumsteeg (1760–1802) fit the bill? He undoubtedly offers pleasant operatically ...
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ArticleKorngold: Violin Concerto in D major op.35, Schauspiel Overture, Much Ado About Nothing Suite
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Philippe Quint (violin) Mineria Symphony Orchestra/Carlos Miguel PrietoComposer: Korngold Although released at the same time as Nikolaj Znaider’s high-powered coupling of Korngold’s Hollywood-imbued Violin Concerto with the Brahms (reviewed last month), Philippe Quint’s account is more than just a ...
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ArticleMozart: Complete Sonatas for keyboard & violin vols.7 & 8: Sonatas K10–15 & K26, Allegro in B flat major K372, 12 Variations in G major K374a, 6 Variations in G minor K374b, Fantasia in C minor K396
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Rachel Podger (violin) Gary Cooper (fortepiano/harpsichord) Alison McGillivray (cello)Composer: Mozart This set of two discs, neither of which includes any real blockbusters, completes Rachel Podger and Gary Cooper’s outstanding Mozart project. As with previous issues, these players convey the sensibility ...
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ArticleNess: Mad Cap Tootling, Wet Blubber Soup, Gust, Low Jive
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Peter Herrestal (violin) Catherine Bullock (viola) Øystein Birkeland (cello) Dan Styffe (double bass) Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Rolf Gupta, Peter Szilvay Composer: NessThe music of the contemporary Norwegian composer Jon Øivind Ness is marked by a strong engagement with pop and rock techniques ...
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ArticleRachmaninoff: Romance in A minor, String Quartets nos.1 & 2, Morceaux de salon op.6, Vocalise (arr. Press), Two Sacred Songs. Mussorgsky: Hopak (arr. Rachmaninoff)
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Dene Olding (violin), Goldner Quartet, Joan Rodgers (soprano), Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano) Composer: Rachmaninoff, MussorgskyBeyond the Cello Sonata of 1901, Rachmaninoff is hardly remembered for his chamber music. Here, though, is a collection bringing together some of the music he ...
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ArticleTreble & Bass. Kleiberg: Violin Concerto, Double Bass Concerto
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Marianne Thorsen (violin) Göran Sjölin (double bass) Trondheim Symphony Orchestra/Daniel ReussComposer: Kleiberg If all contemporary violin concertos were as accessible as this, concert promoters would have an easier time of it. Norwegian composer Ståle Kleiberg doesn’t necessarily push any boundaries, ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Cello Sonatas in F major op.5 no.1, G minor op.5 no.2 & A major op.69
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Friedrich Kleinhapl (cello) Andreas Woyke (piano)Composer: BeethovenI would hope this is the first in a pair of discs containing Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, for it would find a place among the most interesting in the catalogue. By opting for ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartets in C sharp minor op.131 & F major op.135
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: BeethovenFrom one of the growing number of performer record labels, the American-based Cypress Quartet makes a most auspicious opening to its planned series of Beethoven’s late quartets. The players began their journey towards this cycle since they first began working ...
