Book reviews – Page 218
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ArticleReich: Different Trains, Piano Phase. Mellits: String Quartet no.2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Duke Quartet, Andrew Russo (piano) Marc Mellits (piano)Composer: Reich, MellitsThe complexity of bringing together a live quartet with a pre-recorded tape containing voice, three string quartets and train sounds is hidden away in a lucid, wonderfully detailed and transparent performance of Steve ...
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ArticleRihm: String Quartets nos.1, 4, 5 & 8
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Doelen QuartetComposer: Rihm The twelve-ish quartets of Wolfgang Rihm are set fair to define the state of the art of the modern quartet. A bold claim? Well, it’s bold music, and musicians seem keen to measure up to ...
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Article
Rihm: String Quartets vol.4: nos.10 & 12, Quartettstudie
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Minguet QuartetComposer: RihmOne of Wolfgang Rihm’s artistic heroes is the French writer, thinker and (eventually) lunatic Antonin Artaud, famous for his reformulation of modern drama as a Theatre of Cruelty. Artaud wrote that he wanted to restore to the theatre ‘a passionate and convulsive ...
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ArticleSchubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D821, Sonatine D384, Das Wandern, Ungeduld, Die Vögel, Wiegenlied, Nacht und Träume. Webern: Three Pieces op.11. Berg: Four Pieces op.5
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) Alexandre Tharaud (piano)Composer: Schubert, Webern, BergSchubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, generally viewed as an enchantingly sunny work, reveals an underlying anguish in the hands of this much-recorded French duo. Queyras writes in the booklet of this anguish, and of ...
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ArticleSchubert: String Quartets in D minor D810 (Death and the Maiden) & in A minor D804 (Rosamunde)
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Takács QuartetComposer: Schubert A strong whiff of mediocrity hangs over this disc, making it uncompetitive in a cruelly crowded market. Nothing is actually bad, but anyone lucky enough to own, say, the Endellion Quartet’s 1997 BBC disc of ...
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ArticleShostakovich: String Quartet no.8 in C minor op.110; Six Poems by Marina Tsvetaeva op.143 (arr. Auerbach for contralto & string quartet). Auerbach: Cetera desunt: sonnet for string quartet
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Petersen Quartet, Zoryana Kushpler (mezzo-soprano)Composer: Shostakovich, Auerbach One of many impressive details in the Petersen Quartet’s playing of Shostakovich’s landmark Eighth Quartet is its almost Classical poise: the opening is gorgeously serene, which makes the outburst of the fiery ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Violin Concertos nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Sergei Khachatryan (violin) French National Orchestra, Kurt Masur (conductor)Composer: ShostakovichAnd still they come. Recordings of Shostakovich’s claustrophobically forbidding First Concerto continue to emerge at a dizzying pace that currently shows no sign of abating. Although collectors should on no account miss hearing ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Violin Sonata op.134, Viola Sonata op.147
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Isabelle van Keulen (violin/viola) Ronald Brautigam (piano)Composer: Shostakovich This is a different view of the Violin Sonata from the 1969 Melodiya recording by David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter made one year after their premiere performance of the score. Seeking ...
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ArticleDebussy: String Quartet in G minor. Stravinsky: Concertino, Three Pieces for String Quartet, Double Canon. Fauré: String Quartet in E minor
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ysaÿe QuartetComposer: Debussy, Stravinsky, Fauré The last quarter of a century has witnessed a revolution in the technical proficiency of the professional string quartet. While there have always been ensembles of exemplary finesse and taste, the ...
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ArticleHaydn: Cello Concerto no.1 in C major, Hob. VIIb:1*. Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no.1 in A minor, op.33. Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, op.85
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Mstislav Rostropovich (cello/director*) London Symphony Orchestra, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (conductor)Composer: Haydn, Saint-Saëns, ElgarUntil I was asked to annotate this disc of 1965 concert recordings, I had not heard this particular Rostropovich performance of the Elgar Concerto. I knew his interpretation only from an ...
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ArticleInventions. Duos for violin and cello by Bach (transcr. Frederick Neumann), Eisler, Beffa, Bartók (transcr. Karl Kraemer), Klein, Martinu & Kreisler*
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Renaud Capuçon (violin) Gautier Capuçon (cello) Aude Capuçon (piano)*Composer: Bach (transcr. Frederick Neumann), Eisler, Beffa, Bartók (transcr. Karl Kraemer), Klein, Martinu & Kreisler*Clearly sibling ensembles can reap wonderful musical rewards when the added ingredient is a magically intuitive sense of communication. Renaud ...
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ArticleJ.S. Bach: Violin Concertos in D minor BWV1052, in G minor BWV1056, in E major BWV 1042 & in A minor BWV1041
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Monica Huggett (violin), SonnerieComposer: J.S. BachAn instinctive period violinist with excellent technical command, Monica Huggett offers positive, largely robust accounts of these concertos, enlivening their outer movements with vital, incisive playing. She is amply assisted by the members of Sonnerie, who, one-per-part, ...
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ArticleLátigo. Tango arrangements
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Quartet San Francisco, John Santos (percussion)Composer: VariousWhen it comes to tango, Quartet San Francisco has an international, prize-winning reputation to uphold. Látigo comprises a selection of the established canon (arranged largely by violinist Cohen and including a percussion cameo), with a couple ...
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ArticleLe Violon de Ravel. Ravel: Violin Sonata, Vocalise en forme de habanera (transcr. Georges Catherine), Valses nobles et sentimentales nos.6 & 7 (transcr. Jascha Heifetz), Tzigane, Violin Sonata (1897),
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Diego Tosi (violin) Nathalie Juchors (piano) Annette Abscheidt (harp) La Camerata de FranceComposer: RavelDiego Tosi’s homage to Ravel includes an impressive account of Tzigane in David Walter’s orchestral transcription. Having sustained the tension and improvisatory character of the initial unaccompanied section with ...
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ArticleMarx: Quartetto in modo antico, Quartetto in modo classico, Quartetto chromatico
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Thomas Christian Ensemble Composer: MarxJoseph Marx’s delightfully lyrical Quartetto in modo antico dates from the late 1930s, the time when Germany annexed the composer’s native Austria. It feels almost as if Marx (1882–1964), though a contemporary of Webern and Bartók, were ...
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ArticleProkofiev: Solo Violin Sonata in D major op.115, Violin Sonatas no.1 in F minor op.80 & no.2 in D major op.94a, Sonata for two violins in C major op.56*, Five Melodies op.35bis, Waltz from ‘War and Pe
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Tatiana Samouil (violin) Boris Brovtsyn (violin)* Plamena Mangova (piano)Composer: ProkofievSt Petersburg-born Tatiana Samouil brings authentic Russian grit to these performances, with real string-biting playing in the Allegro brusco of Prokofiev’s First Sonata and the final Allegro precipitato of the Solo Sonata. What ...
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ArticleThe Romantic Cello. Chopin: Cello Sonata in G minor op.65, Polonaise brillante op.3. Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor op.19, Vocalise
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Natalie Clein (cello) Charles Owen (piano)Composer: Chopin, Rachmaninoff Having made her debut recording two years ago, 1994 BBC Young Musician of the Year winner Natalie Clein is now launching the first of three discs for EMI with two sonatas by ...
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ArticleTiempo de angel. Piazzolla: Verano porteño, Milonga del angel, Fuga y misterio, Oblivion, Contrabajisimo, Melody in A minor, Muerte del angel, Chiquilin da Bachin, Invierno porteño (arr. Christopher D
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: AstoriaComposer: PiazzollaThe tangos of Astor Piazzolla appear in many guises, and the recent moves to establish him within the realms of classical composition have involved many high-profile musicians. Here the Belgian-based group Astoria takes the music back to its birthplace in the ...
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ArticleBax: Violin Sonatas nos.1 & 3
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Laurence Jackson (violin) Ashley Wass (piano)Composer: BaxArnold Bax was born into a wealthy Surrey family, which enabled him to indulge his passion for composing away from the usual pressures of having to earn a living from it. He travelled widely and settled ...
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Article
Bliss: Violin Concerto, A Colour Symphony
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Lydia Mordkovitch (violin), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox (conductor)Composer: BlissArthur Bliss’s Violin Concerto, written for Alfredo Campoli, is conceived in the Romantic and heroic vein typical of Bliss’s music. Lydia Mordkovitch proves an ideal, passionate advocate, stamping her personality and ...
