Concert reviews – Page 121
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ReviewMozart: Violin Concerto no.3 in G major K216; Piano Trio in E major K542. Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Classics reissued – and the Ravel Trio for the first time on silver discMusicians: Yehudi Menuhin (violin/director) Gaspar Cassadó (cello) Louis Kentner (piano) Bath Festival OrchestraComposer: Mozart; RavelThe old LP of the Ravel and Mozart trios introduced me to the works, more ...
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ReviewBruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor. Lalo: Symphonie espagnole. Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Evergreens enhanced by Capuçon’s purity and uncanny accompanimentMusicians: Renaud Capuçon (violin) Orchestre de Paris/Paavo JärviComposer: Bruch; Lalo; SarasateIn an opulently engineered recording with a generous amount of reverberation, Renaud Capuçon and Paavo Järvi ensure that the Lalo swashes its buckler with plenty ...
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ReviewBrahms: Two Viola Sonatas op.120. Hindemith: Viola Sonata op.11 no.4. Weigl: Viola Sonata op.32
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Vintage viola recordings that reveal a unique authenticityMusicians: Paul Doktor (viola) Nadia Reisenberg (piano)Composer: Brahms; Hindemith; WeiglThese deliciously ‘old world’ readings were recorded around 60 years ago by a wonderfully well-attuned duo. The main drawback is the recording quality, not downright bad ...
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ReviewBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77; String Quintet no.2 in G major op.111
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Weithaas leads from the front in the Brahms ConcertoMusicians: Antje Weithaas (violin/director) Camerata BernComposer: BrahmsCatalogue Number: AVI-MUSIC 8553328To direct the Brahms Concerto from the violin is challenging enough; to know that the concert is going out on a CD must be daunting ...
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ReviewBeethoven: Romance in F major op.50. Berg: Violin Concerto. R. Fuchs: Nine Fantasy Pieces. Joachim: Hebrew Melodies
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Zukerman tapings from the 1990s finally see the light of dayMusicians: Pinchas Zukerman (violin/viola) Marc Neikrug (piano) London Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin MehtaComposer: Beethoven; Berg; R. Fuchs; JoachimThe sequence of nine pieces from Robert Fuchs’s three books of Fantasiestücke is the best violin playing ...
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ReviewScrapyard Exotica. Bates: Bagatelles. Fairouz: The Named Angels. Ueno: Peradam
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Samples, singing and other surprises in a collection of new worksMusicians: Del Sol QuartetComposer: Bates; Fairouz; UenoThis substantial recording project presents three works composed for the San Francisco-based Del Sol Quartet, a group dedicated to commissioning and performing new music. Each piece ...
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ReviewBate: Cello Concerto. Bax: Cello Concerto
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Fine advocacy from an adventurous cellist of two concerto raritiesMusicians: Lionel Handy (cello) Royal Scottish National Orchestra/MartinuYatesComposer: Bate; BaxThis recording represents a milestone for two neglected British cello concertos of the last century: the recording premiere of Stanley Bate’s Concerto and only ...
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ReviewBartók: Violin Concerto no.1. Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Celestial sweetness in an odd couple of concertosMusicians: Janine Jansen (violin) Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, London Symphony Orchestra/Antonio PappanoComposer: Bartók; BrahmsThe connections Janine Jansen makes between these two concertos in the booklet notes may be sketchy but it ...
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ReviewBach: Sonata no.2 in A minor BWV1003; Partitas: no.2 in D minor BWV1004; no.3 in E major BWV1006; Largo (from Sonata no.3 in C major BWV1005); The Art of Fugue – Contrapunctus XIV
The Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Private Bach recordings by a period performance pioneerMusicians: Eduard Melkus (violin)Composer: BachWhat a curious disc. From a label without a catalogue comes a transfer of three solo works, recorded live in August 1975, on what sounds like a C90 cassette in a ...
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ReviewOrbit: Music for Solo Cello. Music by Berio, Carter, Dallapiccola, Glass, Golijov, Hendrix, Lennon/McCartney, Ligeti, Machover, Mackey, Moravec, Pop, Rorem, Sanford, Sciarrino, Sokolovic, Spratlan, Tr
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Matt Haimovitz presents a compelling anthology of cello storiesMusicians: Matt Haimovitz (cello)Composer: Berio, Carter, Dallapiccola, Glass, Golijov, Hendrix, Lennon/McCartney, Ligeti, Machover, Mackey, Moravec, Pop, Rorem, Sanford, Sciarrino, Sokolovic, Spratlan, Tremblay, Twining, Woolf, YunNot so much a recital disc, US cellist Matt Haimovitz’s ...
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ReviewPresence. Vasks: Cello Concerto no.2 ‘Klatbutne/Presence’; Musique du soir; Gramata cellam
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Vasks’s beautiful sound world brought brilliantly to life by Sol GabettaMusicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Irène Timacheff-Gabetta (organ) Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida ThompsonComposer: VasksConviction is everything when performing music by the Latvian composer PÄ“teris Vasks. Without it, his highly emotional works can sound ...
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ReviewItalian Journey: Works for string orchestra by Bazzini, Ernst, Mascagni, Morricone, Paganini, Respighi and Tartini
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Works old and new that display this young group’s talentsMusicians: LGT Young Soloists/Alexander GilmanComposer: Bazzini, Ernst, Mascagni, Morricone, Paganini, Respighi, TartiniThis youthful ensemble’s debut disc is well attuned to the ‘easy listening’ classical market. It offers a strange yet richly varied selection ...
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ReviewNielsen: Violin Concerto; Prelude and Theme with Variations op.48; Prelude and Presto op.52
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Ideal playing in Nielsen’s Concerto and unaccompanied worksMusicians: Cecilia Zilliacus (violin) Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra/Daniel BlendulfComposer: NielsenOne shouldn’t prejudge a recording, but as soon as I spotted the word ‘ugly’ in the self-penned essay Cecilia Zilliacus has appended to this disc, ...
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ReviewBerg: Lyric Suite. Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht. Webern: Langsamer Satz; Five Movements op.5
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Expressions of love by the composers of the Second Viennese SchoolMusicians: Belcea Quartet, Nicolas Bone (viola) Antonio Meneses (cello)Composer: Berg; Schoenberg; WebernA theme of love runs through this very generously filled, 81-minute disc of music by the Second Viennese School ...
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ReviewShostakovich: Cello Concertos nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Capuçon and Gergiev find the chamber intimacy in the cello concertosMusicians: Gautier Capuçon (cello) Mariinsky Orchestra/Valery GergievComposer: ShostakovichIt is difficult for anyone recording these particular scores to ignore the towering presence of Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom both concertos were written and who ...
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ReviewSchubert: String Quintet in C major D956
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Schubert’s chamber masterpiece in an arrangement with added bottomMusicians: Amsterdam Sinfonietta Soloists, Rick Stotijn (double bass)Composer: SchubertTaking inspiration from a Sliding Doors vision of history – Domenico Dragonetti and Schubert as bosom buddies – the latest recording from the Amsterdam Sinfonietta takes ...
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ReviewKancheli: Chiaroscuro; Twilight
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Kremer and friends locate the light and dark in Kancheli’s musicMusicians: Gidon Kremer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Kremerata BalticaComposer: KancheliGiya Kancheli’s pessimistic view of the world expresses itself in music that can be both simplistic and banal. Familiar, sentimental, often sickly Romantic chord ...
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ReviewGrieg: Violin Sonatas: no.1 in F major, no.2 in G major, no.3 in C minor
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Admirable playing – but it can’t match up to the competitionMusicians: Daniela Cammarano (violin) Alessandro Deljavan (piano)Composer: GriegDaniela Cammarano and Alessandro Deljavan offer commendable, thoughtful readings, rising to the various challenges of the fast movements and responding well to the abundant lyricism ...
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ReviewColeridge-Taylor: Violin Concerto in G minor. Delius: Suite. H. Wood: Violin Concerto in A minor
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Music by Brits that nevertheless displays an American accentMusicians: Tasmin Little (violin) BBC Philharmonic/Andrew DavisComposer: Coleridge-Taylor; Delius; H. WoodThe Chandos engineers have produced a typically wide and opulent soundstage for concertante works by three English composers who crossed the Atlantic – in ...
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ReviewCassadó: Suite for Solo Cello. Kodály: Solo Cello Sonata; Duo
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Meneses tackles two peaks of the solo cello repertoireMusicians: Antonio Meneses (cello) Claudio Cruz (violin)Composer: Cassadó; KodályGaspar Cassadó’s three-movement, Catalan-themed response to the Bach Suites is still little known in proportion to its originality, perhaps owing to the vertiginous technical demands it ...
