Book reviews – Page 206
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ArticleErnst: Othello Fantasy op.11, Six Polyphonic Studies, Elegy op.10, Erlkönig op.26
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ilya Gringolts (violin) Ashley Wass (piano) Composer: ErnstIlya Gringolts meets Ernst’s formidable technical challenges with apparent ease, and his playing here is virtually flawless even in the most taxing flights of virtuosity. His dexterity and control are especially mesmerising ...
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ArticleGodard: Violin Concerto no.2 op.131, Concerto romantique op.35, Scènes poétiques op.46
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Chloë Hanslip (violin) Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Košice, Kirk Trevor (conductor)Composer: GodardThis disc proves what Naxos does pre-eminently well: introducing unfamiliar repertoire by less well-known composers on both sides of the Atlantic, often revealing neglected treasures.Benjamin Godard’s Second Violin Concerto is a ...
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ArticleLight. Works by Alakotila, Byron, Childs, Dufallo, Lawson, Rowell, Tristano, Pamela Z & Zarvos
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: EthelComposer: Alakotila, Byron, Childs, Dufallo, Lawson, Rowell, Tristano, Pamela Z & Zarvos Light is New York string quartet Ethel’s keenly awaited second album. If that sounds like a gambit from the pop journalism archive, that’s because Ethel embodies the attitude ...
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ArticleMahler: Piano Quartet. Schnittke: Piano Quartet. Brahms: Piano Quartet no.1 in G minor op.25
Musicians: Avery EnsembleComposer: Mahler, Schnittke, BrahmsThe Avery Ensemble, based in Connecticut, plays a wide repertoire for strings and piano in various combinations. Its debut CD features the group in a cornerstone of the piano quartet literature as well as Mahler’s only surviving chamber music piece, logically paired with ...
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ArticleMartin: Cello Concerto, Ballade for cello, Eight Preludes for piano
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Christian Poltéra (cello) Kathryn Stott (Piano) Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen (conductor)Composer: Martinu Frank Martinursquo;s cocktail of melodic atonality is one that is reluctant to reveal its charms straight away. However, repeated hearings of the 1966 Cello Concerto, composed for ...
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ArticleMartinu: Concerto de camera, Concerto for violin, piano and orchestra, Czech Rhapsody (arr. Teml)
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Bohuslav Matoušek (violin), Karel Košárek (piano) Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood (conductor) Composer: MartinuBohuslav Matoušek will be no stranger to those who have collected Supraphon’s invaluable series of Martinu’s music for violin and piano. For many years he was the leader of the ...
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ArticleMusic for Strings. Works by Kriwaczek, Cohen, Cuéllar, Musorgsky–Cohen, Arnold–Steptoe & A. & R. Panufnik
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Isis Ensemble, Jacques Cohen (conductor)Composer: Kriwaczek, Cohen, Cuéllar, Musorgsky–Cohen, Arnold–Steptoe & A. & R. Panufnik It is customary to put the encore at the end. On this CD it comes at the beginning, with Rohan Kriwaczek’s Bee Sting Dance in Rohan’s Kitchen, ...
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ArticleBach: Solo Violin Sonata no.2 in A minor BWV1003, Solo Violin Partita no.2 in D minor BWV1004. Guy: Aglais
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Maya Homburger (violin)Composer: Bach, GuyThis is the second issue of a three-disc project that couples a Bach solo sonata and partita with one of Barry Guy’s triptych of unaccompanied violin pieces named after butterflies. Maya Homburger demonstrates her versatility and musicianship in ...
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ArticleBach: Solo Violin Sonata no.2 in A minor BWV1003. Bartók: Violin Sonata no.1
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Midori (violin) Robert McDonald (piano)Composer: Bach, Bartók Midori’s Bach comes without those politically correct qualities that are a primary part of today’s period-instrument specialists. Her sound for the A minor Sonata is warmed by vibrato, every ...
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ArticleCapriccioso: Under the Blue Skies. Works by Saint-Saëns, Paganini, Alyabiev, Arensky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Tchaikovsky & Bach (arr. Gounod)
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Alexander Rudin (cello) Jana Ivanilova (soprano) Vladimir Skanavi (piano) Victor Ginsburg (piano) Musica Viva OrchestraComposer: Saint-Saëns, Paganini, Alyabiev, Arensky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Tchaikovsky & Bach (arr. Gounod)If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Alexander Rudin has a phenomenal technique and has chosen works that ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77. Joachim: Violin Concerto no.2 in D minor op.11 ‘In the Hungarian Style’
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Christian Tetzlaff (violin) Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard (conductor)Composer: Brahms, JoachimThe continuing rehabilitation of Joachim’s ‘Hungarian’ Concerto is to be welcomed, and the work that Brahms partially based on it is the obvious coupling. Rachel Barton Pine has already ...
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ArticleRespighi: Complete Works for Violin and Piano vol. 2: Nine Arrangements of Italian Baroque Violin Sonatas nos.1–6
Musicians: Ilona Then-Bergh (violin) Michael Schäfer (piano) Composer: RespighiRespighi was both a teenage prodigy, revealing flair in every sphere, and – with Malipiero, Casella and others – influential in the rediscovery of early Italian music that had languished neglected for years, such as Frescobaldi ...
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ArticleRhapsody. Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor op.19, Vocalise op.34, Variation no.18 from Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. Prokofiev: Cello Sonata in C major op.119
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Gautier Capuçon (cello) Gabriela Montero (piano)Composer: Rachmaninoff, ProkofievThere’s nothing ground-breaking about this CD featuring heavily recorded repertoire. Excelling, as they do, is therefore all the more impressive. Gabriela Montero already has an enviable reputation as an improviser on the piano, but in ...
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ArticleSilvestrov: Post-Scriptum, Epitaph (L.B.), Drama
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Cornelius Dufallo (violin) Yves Dharamraj (cello) Jenny Lin (piano)Composer: SilvestrovWhere else would a postscript and an epitaph precede a drama? So strongly individual and oddly touching is the music of Valentin Silvestrov (b.1937) that the reversal works. A Ukrainian, he is another ...
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ArticleBacri: String Quartets nos.3–6
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Psophos QuartetComposer: Bacri Born in France in 1961, Nicolas Bacri has plowed a lone furrow that has assiduously avoided allegiance to any current group of composers. Moving easily between tonality and atonality, the music is undoubtedly of ...
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ArticleDvorák: Piano Trios in B flat major op.21 and in G minor op.26. Suk: Elegy op.23
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Florestan TrioComposer: Dvorák, Suk Dvo?rák’s first two trios are in good hands here. The Florestan Trio has always had the happy knack of both capturing character in an instant and bringing coherence to extended structures. These performances are ...
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ArticleElgar: Piano Quintet in A minor op.84. Walton: Piano Quartet in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterComposer: Elgar, Walton It is all too easy to fall deeply in love with the Elgar Piano Quintet, and this is certainly the case with the chamber group based at New York’s Lincoln ...
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ArticleFitzenhagen: Cello Concerto no.2 in A minor op.4, Elegie op.21, Capriccio op.40, Serenade op.35, Gavotte op.42, Impromptu op.43, Ave Maria op.41, Dämonenfantasie op.34
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Jens Peter Maintz (cello) Paul Rivinius (piano) Munich Radio Orchestra, Peter Rundel (conductor)Composer: Fitzenhagen Coming from an established tradition of virtuoso player–composers, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen joins the likes of Popper, Klengel and Davidov in generating cello-oriented repertoire. His chief notoriety, however, comes from ...
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ArticleOpera Fantasies for Violin. Works by Hubay, Raff, Stravinsky/Dushkin, Golijov, Weill/Frenkel, Prutsman, Paganini, Bizet/Loeb & Lalo/Szigeti
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Livia Sohn (violin) Geoff Nuttall (violin/viola) Benjamin Loeb (piano)Composer: Hubay, Raff, Stravinsky/Dushkin, Golijov, Weill/Frenkel, Prutsman, Paganini, Bizet/Loeb & Lalo/SzigetiLivia Sohn, a former graduate of the Juilliard School and pupil of the legendary Felix Galimir, possesses a remarkably lithe and transparent tone of ...
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ArticlePintscher: en sourdine*, tenebrae† , Reflections on Narcissus‡
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin)* Christoph Desjardins (viola)† Truls Mørk (cello)‡ Ensemble Intercontemporain† , NDR Symphony Orchestra*‡, Matthias Pintscher (conductor)Composer: Pintscher ‘Muted’; ‘Shadows’; ‘Reflections’: if you were buying paint, they would be shades of grey, and as I remarked ...
