Recording reviews – Page 203
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ArticleEsperanza Spalding: Esperanza
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Esperanza Spalding (double bass/electric bass/voice) Leo Genovese (piano) Otis Brown (drums) Horacio ‘El Negro’ Hernández (drums) Jamey Haddad (percussion) Niño Josele (guitar) Donald Harrison (saxophone) Gretchen Parlato (backing vocals) Theresa Perez (backing vocals) Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet)Composer: Various Double ...
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ArticleFauré: Cello Sonatas nos.1 & 2, Après un rêve, Papillon, Sicilienne, Romance, Berceuse, Sérénade
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Maria Kliegel (cello) Nina Tichman (piano)Composer: Fauré The relative rarity of Fauré’s cello sonatas in recitals is possibly connected with their dark character, the first written during the First World War, the second in 1921 near the end of ...
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ArticleA Very Nice Album
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Nigel Kennedy Quintet Composer: VariousHaving ventured into partnership with Blue Note in 2006, Kennedy has taken his new Polish jazz quintet back to EMI for this double album. Disc 1, ‘Melody’, runs through a panoply of diluted world influences, ...
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ArticleHaydn: Violin Concertos in C major Hob.VIIa:1, A major Hob.VIIa:3 and G major Hob.VIIa:4
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Augustin Hadelich (violin) Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Müller-Brühl (conductor) Composer: Haydn2006 Indianapolis Competition victor Augustin Hadelich gives impressive accounts of Haydn’s three surviving violin concertos. Although there is plenty for advocates of period performance to baulk at, not least ...
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ArticleHindemith: Sonata for double bass and piano. Frank Proto: Sonata ‘1963’. Armando Trovajoli: Sconcerto
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Jens Bomhardt (double bass) Roberto Paruzzo (piano) Composer: Hindemith, Frank Proto, Armando TrovajoliJens Bomhardt gives an alluring account of Hindemith’s late Double Bass Sonata, gracefully despatching the first two short movements, the Allegretto and Scherzo, before embarking on the ...
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ArticleHindemith: Viola Sonatas op.11 no.4 & op.25 no.4, Solo Viola Sonatas op.11 no.5 & op.25 no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Michael Zaretsky (viola) Xak Bjerken (piano) Composer: HindemithPaul Hindemith wrote all his viola music for his own use during his years as a soloist. The earliest piece is one of the most popular: the Sonata for viola and piano ...
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ArticleHommage Á Eugène Ysaÿe. Ysaÿe: Solo Violin Sonatas op.27, Sonata for two violins, Variations sur le 24e Caprice de Paganini, Caprice d’après l’étude en forme de valse, Exil!
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ingolf Turban (violin) Kolja Lessing (violin/piano) I virtuosi di PaganiniComposer: YsaÿeThe six unaccompanied sonatas which Ysaÿe dedicated to violinist friends form the backbone of this interesting compilation, which marks the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. They alternate with piano-accompanied pieces and ...
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ArticleLidarti: Violin Concertos in D minor, in A major & in C major, Quartetto (Sinfonia) in G major
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Francesco D’Orazio (violin/director) Auser Musici Composer: LidartiBorn in Vienna into an Italian family, Christian Joseph Lidarti (1730–95) sought instruction in Italy from Niccolò Jommelli and settled eventually in Pisa. His violin concertos are not especially profound, but illustrate ...
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Article
Martin: Polyptique – Six Images de la Passion du Christ, Maria-Triptychon, Passacaille
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Muriel Cantoreggi (violin) Juliane Banse (soprano), German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Christop Poppen (conductor)Composer: Martinu This immensely rewarding disc includes two thrilling discoveries, plus one of the masterpieces of 20th-century music. Frank Martinursquo;s Passacaille is one of a number of works ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: Octet in E flat major op.20, String Symphony no.10 in B minor
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: London Concertante Composer: MendelssohnI suspect the Mendelssohn Octet is a repertoire piece for London Concertante. At any rate, the players handle all its aspects with aplomb and I enjoyed their reading very much. What is more, they are excellently ...
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ArticlePeteris Vasks': Gr?mata cellam, Partita, Episodi e canto perpetuo
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Dmitry Sitkovetsky (violin) David Geringas (cello) Kalle Randalu (piano)Composer: Peteris Vasks Lithuanian-born Rostropovich pupil David Geringas has been closely associated with the Latvian composer P?teris Vasks since the latter dedicated his 1993–4 Cello Concerto to ...
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ArticleBartók: Violin Sonatas nos.1 & 2, Rhapsodies nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Georgy Valtchev (violin) Lora Tchekoratova (piano)Composer: BartókOn an interpretative level, this Bulgarian husband-and-wife team makes a first-rate duo. I find the distaff side of the partnership more consistent but there is no doubt that Georgy Valtchev and Lora Tchekoratova know Bartók’s music ...
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ArticleBrahms and his Contemporaries, vol.2. Strauss: Cello Sonata in F major op.6. von Herzogenberg: Cello Sonata no.3. Brahms: Cello Sonata no.1 in E minor op.38
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Johannes Moser (cello) Paul Rivinius (piano)Composer: Strauss, von Herzogenberg, BrahmsOccasionally history deals composers an unfair hand. To some extent Heinrich von Herzogenberg comes into this category; certainly his strongest works such as the Second Piano Trio and First Cello Sonata are not ...
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ArticleBrahms: Clarinet Trio in A minor op.34 (viola version), Two Songs op.91, Viola Sonatas in F minor op.120 no.1 & in E flat major op.120 no.2
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Thomas Riebl (viola) Gustav Rivinius (cello) Michelle Breedt (contralto) Silke Avenhaus (piano)Composer: Brahms We are in danger of hearing Brahms’s Clarinet Trio more often on viola than on the wind instrument, but if all contenders are as ...
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ArticleRuth Posselt: American Violinist. Works by Bloch, Hill, Hindemith, Villa-Lobos, Prokofiev, Arbos, Khachaturian, Tchaikovsky & Barber
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ruth Posselt (violin) Allan Sly (piano) Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky (conductor) plus other orchestras & conductorsComposer: Bloch, Hill, Hindemith, Villa-Lobos, Prokofiev, Arbos, Khachaturian, Tchaikovsky & BarberThe Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) audience, before whom Ruth Posselt (1911–2007) appeared a record 64 times, ...
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ArticleSaint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no.1 in A minor. Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme. Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Andreas Brantelid (cello) Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt (conductor)Composer: Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky, SchumannTwenty-year-old Swedish cellist Andreas Brantelid is already in the public eye after winning both the 2006 Eurovision Young Musicians Competition and the 2007 Paulo International Cello Competition. Now EMI ...
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ArticleSchubert: Quartettsatz in C minor D703, String Quintet in C major D956
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Artemis Quartet, Truls Mørk (cello)Composer: Schubert These are performances of great musical certainty. They have clearly been thought through in minute detail and have emerged as readings of character and confidence. A little too much so, perhaps, for ...
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ArticleBaltzar: Complete works for unaccompanied violin
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Patrick Wood (violin)Composer: Baltzar British violin playing displayed few indigenous traits in the 17th century. It was influenced instead by Lullian French court music and foreign violinists such as German-born Thomas Baltzar (c.1631–63), who arrived in England (1656), ...
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ArticleDutilleux: Violin Concerto ‘L’arbre des songes’. Debussy: La mer. Ravel: La valse
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Dmitry Sitkovetsky (violin) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (conductor)Composer: Dutilleux, Debussy, Ravel Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto L’arbre des songes has been quite well served on disc since Isaac Stern gave the world premiere in 1985. This latest recording demonstrates ...
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ArticleFeldman: The Viola in My Life I-IV
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Marek Konstantinowicz (viola) Cikada Ensemble, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Christian Eggen (conductor)Composer: Feldman The comparison is often made between Morton Feldman’s large spaces of sound nearing silence and the washy canvases of his friend Mark Rothko, but the ...
