Recording reviews – Page 197
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ArticleTchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme op.33, Pezzo capriccioso in B minor op.62, Nocturne in D minor op.19 no.4. Shostakovich: Cello Concerto no.1 in E flat major op.107
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Zuill Bailey (cello) San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, MartinuWest (conductor)Composer: Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich The cello masterworks of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich demand very different playing styles. Although Zuill Bailey gives a technically stunning Rococo Variations, as soon as the Shostakovich opens you feel ...
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ArticleDuos for Violin and Viola. Works by John Williams, Copland, Spohr, Martinu, Jakulov & Rolla
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Victor Romanul (violin) Michael Zaretsky (viola)Composer: John Williams, Copland, Spohr, Martinu, Jakulov & Rolla 'Top billing’ – to use appropriate Hollywood parlance – is given on this CD to the world premiere recording of the Duo concertante by John ...
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ArticleFireworks. Works by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Medtner, Francescatti, Schumann, Kreisler, Ries, Halffter, Wieniawski, Gardner, Rota, Bock–Williams, Bloch & Ravel
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Vadim Gluzman (violin) Angela Yoffe (piano) Composer: Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Medtner, Francescatti, Schumann, Kreisler, Ries, Halffter, Wieniawski, Gardner, Rota, Bock–Williams, Bloch & Ravel With the sonorous tone of his 1690 ‘Leopold Auer’ Stradivari and his dazzling technical dexterity, Vadim Gluzman makes violin playing ...
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ArticleFrench Violin Sonatas. Saint-Saëns: Violin Sonata no.1 in D minor op.75. Ravel: Violin Sonata in G major. Fauré: Violin Sonata no.1 in A major op.13
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Antje Weithaas (violin) Silke Avenhaus (piano)Composer: Saint-Saëns, Ravel, FauréThe earliest of these three works comes from the musically passionate Romanticism of Gabriel Fauré, who was a pupil of Saint-Saëns. Fauré’s sonata is played here with a radiant excitement, and the outer movements ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Concertos nos.1–5, Sinfonia concertante in E flat major K364
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Thomas Zehetmair (violin/director) Ruth Killius (viola) Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Franz Brüggen (conductor)Composer: Mozart These discs contain crisp performances delivered on period instruments, with the orchestra especially playing with commendable fastidiousness. Intonation is exemplary and the recording ...
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ArticleRavel: Piano Trio in A minor. Schubert: Piano Trio in E flat major D929
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Icicle Creek Piano Trio Composer: Ravel, SchubertFormed by prizewinning soloists from the US, Russia and the UK, this technically accomplished trio is resident at the Icicle Creek Music Center in Leavenworth, Washington, and much of its career is ...
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ArticleViolette: Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Robert Uchida (violin)Composer: Violette New York composer Andrew Violette’s Sonata is, in his own words, an attempt to ‘go back to basics, to investigate the single line’. At almost two hours long – including a set of variations on ...
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ArticleBach: Goldberg Variations BWV988 (arr. Sitkovetsky)
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Trio AccordComposer: BachWell-known for his resourceful and persuasive transcriptions, Dmitry Sitkovetsky has arranged Bach’s Goldberg Variations for both string orchestra and string trio. The members of the Canadian ensemble Trio Accord have clearly considered the various issues of style and interpretation raised ...
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ArticleBartók: Violin Concerto no.2 in B minor. Shostakovich: Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor op.77
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Yossif Ivanov (violin) Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Pinchas Steinberg (conductor)Composer: Bartók, Shostakovich Bartók’s second is one of the most intractable of violin concertos. Its post-Romantic expressive intensity and cantabile gesturing appear to suggest an emotional kinship with the Glazunov or ...
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ArticleBeach: Piano Quintet in F sharp minor op.67. Smith: Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterComposer: Beach, Smith American composer Amy Beach’s main source of inspiration was middle-period Brahms. However, there is not the slightest hint of his Piano Quintet in her own 1907 contribution to ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quintets in E flat major op.4 & in C major op.29
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nash EnsembleComposer: BeethovenThe first of Beethoven’s string quintets was adapted in 1795 from a wind octet he had written for local musicians back in his Bonn years. The second, his only original work in the medium, came six years later, ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Sonata in G major op.96. Dvorák: Romance in F minor op.11. Suk: Four Pieces op.17. Bartók: Rhapsody no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Roman Pato?ka (violin) Frédéric Lagarde (piano)Composer: Beethoven, Dvorák, Suk, Bartók Czech violinist Roman Pato?ka (b.1981) bravely opens his recital with the most cryptic of Beethoven’s ten violin sonatas, a work that looks forward to the Elysian spirituality of the ...
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ArticleOnslow: Violin Sonatas op.16
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Moderntimes_1800 Composer: OnslowGeorge Onslow’s three op.16 sonatas were composed in 1819 with the somewhat curious designation for fortepiano and violin or viola or cello. They exploit pre-Romantic features characteristic of Hummel, displaying surprising harmonic ingenuity and originality of content, and treating each ...
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ArticleSchmitt: Piano Quintet, Hasards
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Stanislas Quartet, Christian Ivaldi (piano)Composer: Schmitt One of Fauré’s most distinguished pupils, Florent Schmitt (1870–1958) was in many ways the ‘missing link’ in post-Romantic French music. Like his great teacher, Schmitt was not given to wearing his heart on ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Cello Concerto no.2 in G major op.126, Cello Sonata in D minor op.40
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Mihaela Ursuleasa (piano) Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Marc Albrecht (conductor)Composer: ShostakovichShostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto is much darker in nature than the composer’s first and has all too often been regarded as its poor cousin. Yet recently interest in the work ...
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ArticleHolbrooke: Violin Sonata no.3 in F major ‘Orientale’*. Walford Davies: Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor op.7*. Rootham: Violin Sonata in G minor*. Arthur Benjamin: Cello Sonatina†
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jacqueline Roche (violin) Justin Pearson (cello) Robert Stevenson (piano)* Sophia Rahman (piano)† Composer: Holbrooke, Walford Davies, Rootham, Arthur BenjaminThis disc of rarities by little-known English composers is of mixed appeal but is for the most part very finely performed. Joseph Holbrooke’s Violin ...
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ArticleBate: Viola Concerto. Vaughan Williams: Romance (orch. Chase). Bell: Rosa mystica
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Roger Chase (viola) BBC Concert Orchestra, Stephen Bell (conductor) Composer: Bate, Vaughan Williams, BellWilliam Henry Bell’s Rosa mystica is a three-movement viola concerto written in 1916, after the composer had settled in Cape Town as director of the South ...
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ArticleDavid Anderson: Double Bass Sonata*. Luis Prado: Three Meditations for double bass and piano*. Boismortier: Sonata in D major op.50 no.3 (arr. Kurtz)†
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jeremy Kurtz (double bass) Benjamin Kamins (bassoon)† Ines Irawati (piano)* Alison Luedecke (harpsichord)† Composer: David Anderson, Luis Prado, Boismortier The rich, post-Romantic harmonies and predominantly slow tempos of both US bassist David Anderson’s Double Bass Sonata (1990) and the ...
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ArticleRózsa: Viola Concerto op.37, Hungarian Serenade op.25
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Gilad Karni (viola) Budapest Concert Orchestra MÁV, Mariusz Smolij (conductor)Composer: Rózsa In spite – or because – of his huge success in Hollywood, Miklós Rózsa strictly separated his work for the film industry from his ‘serious’ compositions ...
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ArticleArensky: Violin Concerto in A minor op.54. Taneyev: Suite de concert op.28
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Ilya Gringolts (violin) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor)Composer: Arensky, TaneyevIlya Gringolts plays the Arensky Concerto as though it is a blazing masterpiece. In a recording in which he is backed to the hilt by Ilan Volkov and the ...
