Recording reviews – Page 207
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ArticleBrahms: Viola Sonatas op.120 nos.1 & 2, Lieder (arr. Causa)
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ettore Causa (viola) Marc Pantillon (piano)Composer: Brahms Brahms’s late compositions have often been described as ‘autumnal’. In this latest recording of the viola sonatas, the music’s ‘mellow fruitfulness’ is further remarked upon in the interpreters’ comments, and in some evocative pictures in ...
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ArticleBreinschmid: Wien bleibt Krk
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Georg Breinschmid (double bass) & friendsComposer: Breinschmid Georg Breinschmid will be known to double bass aficionados as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic as well as numerous jazz ensembles. In recent years he has devoted more time to composition ...
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ArticleCras: Cello Sonata, Piano Trio, Largo for cello & piano
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Philippe Koch (violin) Aleksandr Khramouchin (cello) Alain Jacquon (piano) Composer: CrasJean Cras (1879–1932) was a self-taught composer who spent much of his life reluctantly serving in the French navy. Despite lack of formal musical training, his compositional fluency is impressive – ...
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ArticleVivaldi: Le quattro stagioni. Tartini: Violin Sonata in G minor ‘Devil’s Trill’
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Joshua Bell (violin) John Constable (harpsichord) Academy of St Martinuin the FieldsComposer: Vivaldi, TartiniIt is perhaps a sign of the times that most modern violinists approach Baroque repertoire in ways influenced by ‘historically informed’ performance. This can give rise to a strange ...
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ArticleBach: Violin Sonatas BWV 1014–19
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) Enrico Pace (piano)Composer: BachA constant feature of these performances is the space between the notes. Frank Peter Zimmermann favours a clipped style of playing, bringing to the semiquaver passages of faster movements in particular a level of articulation ...
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ArticleDebussy: Cello Sonata, La plus que lente, Scherzo, Intermezzo. Poulenc: Cello Sonata, Bagatelle, Sérénade, Suite française
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) Alexandre Tharaud (piano)Composer: Debussy, Poulenc Pianist Alexandre Tharaud opens Debussy’s Cello Sonata with such portentous dignity that you can’t help sitting up – there’s a strong feeling that this is going to be a serious ...
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ArticleDebussy: String Quartet in G minor op.10. Fauré: String Quartet in E minor op.121. Ravel: String Quartet in F major
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ebène QuartetComposer: Debussy, Fauré, Ravel What makes a quartet ensemble sound ‘French’? In the case of the Ebène Quartet, I think it is a refusal to play in too clammy a fashion. The players never sound dry on this very full ...
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ArticleEdgar Meyer and Chris Thile
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Edgar Meyer (double bass) Chris Thile (mandolin)Composer: VariousThe first recorded collaboration between triple Grammy award-winner Edgar Meyer and virtuoso mandolin player Chris Thile has been well worth the wait for those who knew anything of them as a duo previously.The blend of ...
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ArticleElgar: Violin Sonata in E minor op.82. Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat major op.18. Ravel: Violin Sonata in A minor op. posth.
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Jonathan Crow (violin) Paul Stewart (piano)Composer: Elgar, Strauss, Ravel Six years ago, and at the age of 25, Jonathan Crow was appointed concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony, becoming the youngest leader of a major North American orchestra. More recently ...
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ArticleElliott Carter: Cello Sonata, Figment for cello, Figment no.2, Con leggerezza pensosa, Fragments nos.1 & 2, Elegy
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Johannes Martens EnsembleComposer: Elliott CarterThere’s something gripping about the sheer vitality of Elliott Carter’s music, all the more amazing when you consider that he celebrates his 100th birthday this month. This collection of the great American modernist’s chamber music, played ...
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ArticleKrzysztof Penderecki: Violin Sonata no.2. Piotr Lachert: Violin Sonatas nos.9 & 17
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Hanna Lachert (violin) Hélène Jeanney (piano)Composer: Penderecki, Piotr LachertThis disc was recorded to mark Penderecki’s 75th and Lachert’s 70th birthdays. The accompanying booklet is irritatingly coy about the fact that violinist Hannah Lachert is Lachert’s sister: it’s only alluded to in Lachert’s ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: Cello Sonatas no.1 in B flat major op.45 & no.2 in B flat major op.58, Variations concertantes op.17, Lied ohne Worte op.109, Albumblatt Assai tranquillo
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Sergei Istomin (cello) Viviana Sofronitsky (piano)Composer: Mendelssohn Although Mendelssohn’s cello works are hardly uncharted territory this new release of his complete oeuvre for cello and piano has the selling-point of using a reproduction Conrad Graf fortepiano of ...
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ArticlePurcell: Fantasias
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Il Suonar Parlante, Vittorio Ghielmi (soprano viol/director)Composer: Purcell Purcell’s fantasias in three, four and, in one case, five parts comprise sharply defined sections of varying tempo and character. They demonstrate his resourcefulness in the techniques of imitation and contrapuntal ...
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ArticleTippett: String Quartets nos.1, 2 & 4
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Tippett QuartetComposer: Tippett Tippett himself coached the Lindsay Quartet (as it was then called) for its recording of his first three quartets (ASV) and wrote the last two for the same players. How much the composer became swept ...
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ArticleBartók: Violin Sonata in E minor op. posth. (1903), Sonata for solo violin, Andante, Hungarian Folksongs
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Elise BŠtnes (violin) HŠvard Gimse (piano) Composer: BartókThis useful, stimulating disc provides the Bartók enthusiast with superb, up-to-date versions of three unusual works for violin and piano, as well as the masterpiece for violin alone. Elise Båtnes, who was in her mid-30s ...
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ArticleBass Trip. Works by Teppa Hauta-Aho, Arvo Pärt, Paul Ramsier, Jon Øivind Ness, Mario Lavista, Henrik Hellstenius, Lars Petter Hagen, Stefan Schäfer & Peteris Vasks
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Dan Styffe (double bass) Catherine bullock (viola) Øystein Birkeland (cello), Gonzalo Moreno (piano) Susanna Wallumrød (vocals) Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen (percussion)Composer: Teppa Hauta-Aho, Arvo Pärt, Paul Ramsier, Jon Øivind Ness, Mario Lavista, Henrik Hellstenius, Lars Petter Hagen, Stefan Schäfer & Peteris Vasks ...
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ArticleBrett Dean: Viola Concerto*, Twelve Angry Men, Intimate Decisions, Komarov’s Fall†
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Brett Dean (viola/conductor) Sydney Symphony, Simone Young (conductor)* Hugh Wolff (conductor)† Composer: Brett DeanIt must take a lot of courage to leave one of the world’s most prestigious (and best paid) orchestras to try to make a ...
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ArticleBridge: Cello Sonata, Élégie, Serenade, Meditation. Bosmans: Cello Sonata, Nuit calme
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Mayke Rademakers (cello) Matthijs Verschoor (piano)Composer: Bridge, BosmansFor their second disc together, Dutch duo Mayke Rademakers and Matthijs Verschoor pair sonatas by contemporaries Frank Bridge and Henriëtte Bosmans, the latter a well-known figure in her native Holland where a composition prize is ...
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ArticleBruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor op.26. Paganini: Violin Concerto no.1 in D major op.6
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Alexandra Soumm (violin) Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Georg Mark (conductor)Composer: Bruch, PaganiniAt 19, Alexandra Soumm has already established herself as a fine violinist, with a number of high-profile successes to her name, including top spot at the 2004 Eurovision Competition for young musicians. ...
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ArticleReger: Complete String Trios and Piano Quartets vol.1: String Trio in A minor op.77b, Piano Quartet in D minor op.113
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Aperto Piano QuartetComposer: RegerMax Reger’s standing as a composer now largely resides in his works for organ, though chamber music occupied much of his attention throughout his short life. The present release, which promises to be the first of two discs containing ...
