Recording reviews – Page 190
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ArticleHolmboe: Violin Sonatas no.1, no.2 op.16 & no.3 op.89, Reminiscences, Violin Solo, Bagatelle no.1 ‘Arabesque’, Haiduc op.193
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Johannes Søe Hansen (violin) Christina Bjørkøe (piano)Composer: Holmboe This disc presents all of Danish composer Vagn Holmboe’s works for violin and piano. Imbued with a flavour of the folk music of his native land, as well of that ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: String Octet in E flat major op.20*. Enescu: Octet in C major op.7†
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Christian Tetzlaff*† , Isabelle Faust*† , Lisa Batiashvili*† , Antje Weithaas*, Katherine Gowers† (violin), Rachel Roberts*† , Ori Kam*, Antoine Tamestit† (viola), Tanja Tetzlaff*, Quirine Viersen*† , Gustav Rivinius† (cello)Composer: Mendelssohn, Enescu The exultant, ...
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ArticleMessiaen: Thème et variations (arr. Handy), Louange Á l'éternité de Jésus. Martinu: Cello Sonata no.1. Carter: Cello Sonata. Cutler: Music for Parakeets
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Lionel Handy (cello) Nigel Clayton (piano) Composer: Messiaen, Martinu Carter, CutlerWith this, his first solo disc, British cellist Lionel Handy marks both last year’s Messiaen and Carter centenaries and his own miraculous return to playing after serious injury. Messiaen’s Theme and ...
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ArticleMilhaud: Quatre visages op.238, Viola Concerto no.1 op.108. Ysaÿe: Solo Cello Sonata op.28 (arr. viola). Hindemith: Solo Viola Sonata op.25 no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Susanne van Els (viola) Gerard Bouwhuis (piano) Schönberg Ensemble/Reinbert de Leeuw Composer: Milhaud, Ysaÿe, HindemithThis imaginatively planned CD begins and ends with nicely lilting performances of two of Milhaud’s Quatre visages, its centrepiece being the composer’s First Viola Concerto. Both ...
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ArticlePaganini: Twenty-Four Caprices op.1
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Thomas Zehetmair (violin)Composer: PaganiniApproximately 15 years on from his original Teldec recording of Paganini’s notorious caprices, Thomas Zehetmair’s second reading demonstrates greater technical assurance and musical maturity; even the most challenging passages are mastered with pleasing tone and intonation and with the ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra: Violin Concertos in D major op.61 & C major WoO5 (fragment), Romances in G major op.40 & F major op.50
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Orchestre des Champs-Elysées/Philippe HerrewegheComposer: Beethoven Patricia Kopatchinskaja first caught my attention with a coruscating ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata, in which she was partnered by Fazil Say. Her next Beethoven project could hardly be more different: using an instrument in ...
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ArticleBach: Viola da gamba Sonatas BWV1027–9, arrangements of arias from Cantatas nos.175 & 183
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Audrey Cienniwa (violoncello piccolo) Paul Cienniwa (harpsichord)Composer: BachAlthough there is no evidence that the violoncello piccolo ever substituted for the gamba in 18th-century performances of these sonatas, Audrey Cienniwa makes an excellent case for adopting this five-stringed instrument, which Bach himself readily ...
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ArticleSchubert: Quartettsatz in C minor D703. Mozart: String Quartet in C major K465 ‘Dissonance’. Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E minor op.44 no.2, Andante espressivo from String Quartet in D major op.44
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Elias QuartetComposer: Schubert, Mozart, MendelssohnHaving recently left the Sheffield-based Ensemble 360, the members of the Elias have given themselves the freedom to forge a career as one of the most compelling of the UK’s many young string quartets. Here, caught on the ...
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ArticleIn Memoriam Valentin Berlinsky. Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor op.115. Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major K581
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Borodin Quartet, Julian Milkis (clarinet)Composer: Brahms, MozartRecorded in the Moscow Conservatoire’s Great Hall on 4 January 2000 (the audience is commendably quiet apart from a pair of sneezes just over three minutes into the slow movement of the Brahms), these glowing, well-balanced ...
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ArticleLees: String Quartets nos.1, 5 & 6
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: Lees These three works by the American composer Benjamin Lees (b.1924) span more than 50 years and reveal a clear development in his musical language. While the First Quartet (1952) sounds very much like a work of ...
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ArticleMendelssohn's String Quintets no.1 in A major op.18 & no.2 in B flat major op.87
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Mannheim Quartet, Jone Kaliunaite (viola) Composer: MendelssohnNietzsche’s description of Mendelssohn as the ‘fine passing phenomenon of German music’ could be applied equally well to the composer’s two string quintets, as both have remained in the shadows despite their significance in the ...
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ArticleBrahms: String Quintets in F major op.88 & G major op.111
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nash Ensemble Composer: BrahmsBrahms was pleased with his F major Quintet and Daniel Gregory Mason enthuses about it in his book on the composer’s chamber music; but in my experience, it takes a really special performance to bring it off. ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Sonatas no.1 in G major op.78, no.2 in A major op.100 & no.3 in D minor op.108, Scherzo in C minor from ‘F.A.E.’ Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Simon Fischer (violin) Raymond Fischer (piano) Composer: BrahmsWell known to readers of The Strad for his regular column on the technique of violin playing, Simon Fischer has been performing the Brahms sonata cycle in concert for over 25 years, though ...
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ArticleCafé Fiddle. Music by Falla, Elgar, Debussy, Kreisler, Paradies, Moszkowski, Albéniz, Rachmaninoff, Sarasate & Gershwin
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Ben Breen (violin) Milton Kaye (piano)Composer: Falla, Elgar, Debussy, Kreisler, Paradies, Moszkowski, Albéniz, Rachmaninoff, Sarasate & GershwinRecorded in 2006 shortly before Milton Kaye’s death at the ripe old age of 97 – not that you’d know it from the golden-toned, youthfully responsive ...
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ArticleChants D’Est. Works by Rachmaninoff, Dohnányi, Tcherepnin, Krawczyk, Prokofiev, Martinu, Mahler & Trad. Jewish
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Sonia Wieder-Atherton (cello) Sinfonia Varsovia/Christophe Mangou Composer: Rachmaninoff, Dohnányi, Tcherepnin, Krawczyk, Prokofiev, Martinu, Mahler & Trad. JewishFor her latest disc, Sonia Wieder-Atherton has devised an inspired and original musical journey through the Slavic lands. The more folk-orientated items ...
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ArticleRomantic Violin Concertos. Gade: Violin Concerto in D minor op.56. Lange-Müller: Violin Concerto in C major op.69. Langgaard: Violin Concerto
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Christina Šstrand (violin) Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra/John StorgŠrdsComposer: Gade, Lange-Müller, Langgaard The rather generic nature of these three Danish violin concertos helps to remind us just how individual Carl Nielsen was as a composer in the context of his nation’s music and ...
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ArticleSculthorpe: String Quartets vol.3: nos.14–17
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Goldner QuartetComposer: Sculthorpe The third volume of the Goldner Quartet’s traversal of pre-eminent Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s complete music for string quartet brings things right up to date, with four works from the last eleven years (two more quartets ...
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ArticleSmetana: String Quartet no.1 in E minor ‘From My Life’. Sibelius: String Quartet in D minor op.56 ‘Voces intimae’, Andante festivo
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Kocian QuartetComposer: Smetana, SibeliusWhen I was a lad, people still talked about how Oskar Nedbal played the viola in Smetana’s E minor Quartet. Nowadays we take it for granted that the opening salvos will be thrilling and tonally refulgent. Even ...
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Article18 Piano Trios Dedicated to Haydn. Works by Krammer, Woolrich, Xiaogang Ye, Doderer, Ndodana-Breen, Sánchez-Verdú, Bolcom, Everhartz, Kakinuma, Fontyn, Hödl, Illés, Schifrin, Schnebel, Schedlberger, K
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Haydn Trio EisenstadtComposer: Krammer, Woolrich, Xiaogang Ye, Doderer, Ndodana-Breen, Sánchez-Verdú, Bolcom, Everhartz, Kakinuma, Fontyn, Hödl, Illés, Schifrin, Schnebel, Schedlberger, Kats-Chernin, Jolas & HarnikTo mark this year’s bicentenary of Haydn’s death, the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt commissioned 18 composers to write a piano trio ...
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ArticleFantasie. Works by Sarasate, Vaughan Williams, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Ravel, Pärt, Rachmaninoff & Fauré
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nicola Benedetti (violin) Alexei Grynyuk (piano) Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew LittonComposer: Sarasate, Vaughan Williams, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Ravel, Pärt, Rachmaninoff & FauréThis recital by the young Nicola Benedetti, stemming from several sessions with various accompanists, is notable for one ...
