Book reviews – Page 193
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Concerto in D major op.61 BERG Violin Concerto
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Haydn Trio EisenstadtArabella Steinbacher (violin) WDR Symphony Orchestra Köln/Andris NelsonsComposer: Beethoven Very few recorded violinists have possessed the ideal combination of cantabile purity and angelic intensity for the Beethoven Concerto: Leonid Kogan, Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Christian ...
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ArticleWhitty: thirty-nine pages
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Darragh Morgan (violin) Mary Dullea (piano) Composer: WhittyI hadn’t come across composer Paul Whitty, but the booklet note informs that he is director of Sonic Art Research at Oxford Brookes, and, more startlingly, his work has found its way into ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77. Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major op.35
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nikolaj Znaider (violin) Vienna Philharmonic/Valery GergievComposer: Brahms, KorngoldNikolaj Znaider’s CD releases have so far been select enough to make each new one an event, and this coupling of two concertos with Viennese connections is no exception. Znaider adopts an unusually ...
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ArticleConcertos of the 21st century. B. Mantovani: Cello Concerto. Schoeller: The Eyes of the Wind*. Amy: Cello Concerto†
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra/Günther Herbig, Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra/Alexander Briger*, Orchestre de Paris/Gilbert Amy† Composer: B. Mantovani, Schoeller, AmyThree works from the past decade featured here suggest new paths the cello concerto might take ...
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ArticleThe Celtic Viol. Airs and dances by O’Carolan, Fraser, Gow, Macpherson, Marshall & Trad. Irish & Scottish
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jordi Savall (viol/fiddle) Andrew Lawrence-King (Irish harp/psalterium) Composer: O’Carolan, Fraser, Gow, Macpherson, Marshall & Trad. Irish & Scottish Jordi Savall’s constant musical inquisitiveness, which has already taken him among many other places round the courts of mediaeval ...
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ArticleBach's Suites for Solo Cello BWV1007–12
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Tatjana Vassiljeva (cello)Composer: Bach The Bach cello suites beckon to all cellists as Everest does to mountaineers. Part of the compelling attraction of both performing and listening to these works lies in the spiritual and ethereal qualities encased in the ...
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ArticleFauré: Berceuse for violin & orchestra (orch. Gaubert), Élégie for cello & orchestra, Violin Concerto, Romance for cello & orchestra, Ballade op.19 for piano & orchestra, Fantaisie for flute & orchest
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabedian (violin) Henri Demarquette (cello) Juliette Hurel (flute) Jérôme Ducros (piano) Orchestre de Bretagne/Moshe AtzmonComposer: FauréFauré emerges from the drawing room in this interesting collection of concertino works, many better known with piano accompaniments. Although Fauré was not in his element ...
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ArticleFloodplain
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Kronos QuartetComposer: Various Floodplain, created in one era of American politics and released in another, presents commissions and arrangements of music from around the Middle East.So much of the CD’s effect is bound up in the strength of the ...
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ArticleGarland: String Quartets no.1 ‘In Praise of Poor Scholars’ & no.2 ‘Crazy Cloud’
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Apartment HouseComposer: Garland The music on this disc is deceptively simple: tonal, consonant, full of glorious melodies and glowing harmonies, it nevertheless repays repeated listening and draws the listener ever deeper in, slowly revealing its highly worked craftsmanship. Its composer, ...
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ArticleHindemith: Complete viola music vol.1: Viola Sonatas op.11 no.4, op.25 no.4 & ‘1939, Meditation from ‘Nobilissima visione’
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Lawrence Power (viola) Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano)Composer: Hindemith Paul Hindemith wrote his viola compositions for his own use as a concert artist. Accordingly, they reflect his personal playing style, one characterised by a taut rhythmic sense and the avoidance of any ...
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ArticleKnox: Viola Spaces, Viola Spaces Variations on Marin Marais, La valse de la Vineuse, Jonah and the Whale, Ockeghem Fantasy
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Garth Knox (viola/viola d’amore) Johannes Eva, Julien Heichelbech, Marie Petit, Cyprien Busolini, Aurélien Grais (viola) Nathalie Chabot (violin) Agnès Vesterman (cello) Carol Robinson (clarinet) Gérard Buquet (tuba)Composer: Knox Few musicians can claim half as much experience in the performance of ...
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ArticleMozart: Complete Violin Concertos
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Gidon Kremer (violin/director) Kremerata BalticaComposer: Mozart Gidon Kremer’s view of Mozart’s concertos is decidedly spiritoso, with some delightful affettuoso along the way. He and his beloved Kremerata Baltica are very much a double act, bandying phrases back and forth, ...
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ArticlePaganini: Variations on ‘Nel cor più non mi sento’ op.38, ‘God save the King op.9. Bartók: Sonata for solo violin. Skalkottas: Sonata for solo violin. Ysaÿe: Sonata no.6 for solo violin op.27 no.6
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: George Zacharias (violin)Composer: Paganini, Bartók, Skalkottas, YsaÿeBy any standards this is an outstanding disc debut. George Zacharias, a young Greek violinist, studied in Athens with Despotidis, in London with Zivoni and in Sydney with Wilkomirska. He has been doing a ...
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ArticlePleyel: Violin Concerto in D major Benton 103/103A, Symphonies concertantes in B flat major Benton 112 & A major Benton 114
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: David Perry, Isabella Lippi (violin) Victoria Chiang (viola) Baltimore Chamber Orchestra/Markand Thakar (conductor)Composer: Pleyel David Perry gives an assured account of Pleyel’s D major Violin Concerto, combining its original first two movements with a later substitute finale (the original finale ...
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ArticlePurcell: Ten Sonatas in Four Parts
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Retrospect Trio Composer: PurcellRetrospect Trio is an offshoot of Retrospect Ensemble, which is in turn an artistically broader reincarnation of The King’s Consort. Sophie Gent and Matthew Truscott alternate as lead violinist in this debut disc, but ...
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ArticleThe Piazzolla Project. Piazzolla: Concierto para quintet, Estaciones porteñas, Fuga y misterio, Suite del angel
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Artemis Quartet, Jacques Ammon (piano)Composer: PiazzollaThe ‘project’ here is simple: to transfer some of Piazzolla’s music into piano quintet, string quartet and piano trio formats, driven by Jacques Ammon and the Artemis’s cellist, Eckart Runge.The idea isn’t mind-blowingly innovative, but the end ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Piano Trio in E flat major op.70 no.2. Schubert: Notturno in E flat major D897. Schumann: Piano Trio no.3 in G minor op.110
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: ATOS Trio Composer: Beethoven, Schubert, SchumannThe programme is unhackneyed, the playing is fresh and skilful, with excellent string tone, and the recordings are excellent. The young ATOS Trio from Germany made this American CD as part of its reward ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quintet in C minor op.104, Duo in E flat major for viola & cello WoO32 ‘Eyeglass’, Piano Quartet in E flat major op.16
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nash EnsembleComposer: Beethoven Like many sequels, this follow-up to the Nash’s enjoyable disc of the two proper Beethoven string quintets (CDA 67693) is only partially successful. The main problem is op.104, one of those cases where Beethoven merely corrected ...
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ArticleAntheil: Lithuanian Night, Six Little Pieces, String Quartets nos.1, 2 & 3
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Del Sol QuartetComposer: AntheilThe quirky character of avant-garde composer George Antheil is laid bare in this survey of his complete string quartets, with compellingly detailed biographical notes by musicologist Mauro Piccinini. Born in New Jersey, Antheil spent much time in Paris where ...
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ArticleAlbinoni: Sinfonie a cinque op.2
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Chiara Banchini (violin/director) Ensemble 415Composer: Albinoni Tomaso Albinoni’s six Sinfonie a cinque, trio sonatas in all but name, alternate with concertos in his op.2 (Venice, 1700). Ensemble 415 performs them with an appealing simplicity, which spawns a natural feeling for ...
