Recording reviews – Page 226
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Article
Bliss: Violin Concerto, A Colour Symphony
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Lydia Mordkovitch (violin), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox (conductor)Composer: BlissArthur Bliss’s Violin Concerto, written for Alfredo Campoli, is conceived in the Romantic and heroic vein typical of Bliss’s music. Lydia Mordkovitch proves an ideal, passionate advocate, stamping her personality and ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Concerto in D major op.61, Leonore Overture no.3. Wagner: Siegfried Idyll*
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Leonid Kogan (violin) RAI Symphony Orchestras, Turin & Rome*, Rudolf Kempe (conductor)Composer: Beethoven, WagnerWhereas Heifetz never plumbed the depths of the Beethoven Concerto and Oistrakh rarely did so, Leonid Kogan seemed to have the measure of it from the outset. This 1956 ...
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ArticleBoccherini: String Quintets in D minor op.18 no.5 (G287), in G minor op.29 (G318) and in F major op.41 no.2 (G347)
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ensemble ExplorationsComposer: Boccherini The members of Ensemble Explorations are persuasive advocates of these two-cello quintets. Their sensitive and engaging accounts combine energy, clarity and insight with warmth and affection; furthermore, they sound like real performances, not studio patchwork.Tonally sweet, ...
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ArticleBrahms: String Quartet no.3 in B flat major op.67, Piano Quintet in F minor op.34
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Pražák Quartet, Ivan Klánsky (piano) Composer: BrahmsDiscs from this Czech–French label arouse pleasurable anticipation. And although this Brahms programme is not as essential – or as well recorded – as some other items in Praga’s catalogue, it provides ...
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ArticleCasals: Festivals at Prades vol.2. Works by Bach, Schumann, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert & Mendelssohn
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Pablo Casals (cello/conductor) Yehudi Menuhin (violin) Christian Ferras (violin) Ernst Wallfisch (viola) Végh Quartet, etcComposer: Bach, Schumann, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert & MendelssohnI sometimes wonder if with these retrospective collections of great artists we’re not turning into bargain hunters, snapping up anything ...
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ArticleBruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor op.26. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto no.2 in E minor op.64. Ravel: Tzigane
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Niki Vasilakis (violin) Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sebastian Lang-Lessing (conductor)Composer: Bruch, Mendelssohn, RavelThe rhythmically free and spacious initial statement of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto is a foretaste of the personal and unhurried view of the score from the 22-year-old Australian Niki ...
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ArticleConus: Violin Concerto in E minor. Markov: Taiwanese Improvisation and Formosa Capriccio from Formosa Suite. Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor op16
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Anita Chen (violin/piano) Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dmitry Yablonsky (conductor)Composer: Conus, Markov, GriegJules Conus’s E minor Concerto is rarely performed despite its easy flow of memorable ideas, brilliant solo writing and Tchaikovskian orchestration. Like Glazunov in his delectable A minor Concerto, Conus takes ...
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ArticleRebel: Sonatas for two violins and continuo: no.3 in B flat major ‘L’Apollon’, no.5 in D major ‘La Pallas’, no.7 in C minor ‘Le tombeau de Monsieur de Lully’, no.11 in B flat major (1712), Violin Sona
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Amandine Beyer (violin) Assemblée des Honnestes CurieuxComposer: RebelWritten around 1695, these sonatas emanate from two collections published in 1712 and 1713. They demonstrate Rebel’s absorption of the Italian style and highlight his experimental, often chromatically bold, musical language.These players offer intelligent, idiomatic ...
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ArticleRoslavets: Violin Sonatas nos.1, 4 & 6, Three Dances
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Solomia Soroka (violin) Arthur Greene (piano)Composer: RoslavetsNikolai Roslavets (1880–1944) was a key figure in early 20th-century experimental Russian music. He flourished during the immediate post-Revolution years, but fell from grace when Soviet cultural policy shifted dramatically under Stalin.The Three Dances, published in ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor op.99, Violin Sonata op.134, plus DVD documentary A People’s Music
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ruth Palmer (violin) Alexei Grynyuk (piano) Philharmonia Orchestra, Benjamin Wallfisch (conductor)Composer: ShostakovichThe Shostakovich centenary has inspired a flood of new recordings of the A minor Concerto, although none quite compares with the truly astonishing account by the young Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, ...
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ArticleStuart Macrae: Violin Concerto*† , Two Scenes from the Death of Count Ugolino‡§, Motus§, Stirling Choruses† §
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Christian Tetzlaff (violin)* BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor)† Loré Lixenberg (mezzo-soprano)‡ Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Susanna Mälkki (conductor)Composer: Stuart MacraeChristian Tetzlaff brings impressive authority to Stuart MacRae’s Violin Concerto of 2001. He finds grace and rhythmic precision in the ...
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ArticleTchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme op.33, Andante cantabile, Pezzo capriccioso op.62, Nocturne. Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no.1 in A minor op.33. Ginastera: Pampeana no.2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Munich Radio Orchestra, Ari Rasilainen (conductor)Composer: Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, GinasteraSol Gabetta and her gorgeous Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello of 1759 combine in a recording of outstanding quality to produce the most beautiful cello sound I have ever heard on disc. ...
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ArticleVoice of the Violin. Works by Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Massenet, Fauré, Dvorák, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Donizetti, Orff, Debussy, Ponce, Falla, Bizet & R. Strauss
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Joshua Bell (violin) Anna Netrebko (soprano) Orchestra of St Luke’s, Michael Stern (conductor)Composer: Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Massenet, Fauré, Dvorák, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Donizetti, Orff, Debussy, Ponce, Falla, Bizet & R. StraussWhat lends this collection distinction is the unerring beauty of Joshua Bell’s playing, his ...
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ArticleXenakis: Windungen. Aperghis: Totem. Pascal: Au plus profound d’un étrange rêve éveillé. Roy: Tresses. Globokar: Freu(n)de
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Centre-de-Practique-des-Musiques-Contemporaisede l’ENMD d’Evry Cello Ensemble, Christophe Roy (director), Michael Pozmanter (director)Composer: Xenakis, Aperghis, Pascal, Roy, GlobokarThere’s no question that this French cello choir from the catchily titled Centre de Practique des Musique Contemporaines is a crack ensemble. Its director, Christophe Roy, chooses ...
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ArticleHonegger: Sonatine no.6 in E minor. Martinu: Duo no.1 H157. Bach: Canon alla duodecima & Canon in hypodiapason from Die Kunst der Fuge. Pintscher: Study I for Treatise on the Veil. Ravel: Sonata for v
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin) Heinrich Schiff (cello)Composer: Honegger, Martinu, Bach, Pintscher, RavelWho better to explore this forgotten corner of the string repertory than Frank Peter Zimmermann and Heinrich Schiff, two masters who have been musical partners on and off for more than ...
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ArticleHungarian Violin Sonatas. Dohnányi: Violin Sonata in C sharp minor op.21. Goldmark: Violin Sonata in D major op.25. Hubay: Sonate romantique in D major op.22
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Peter Csaba (Violinist), Peter FranklComposer: Dohnányi, Goldmark, HubayDohnányi is one of those late-Romantic figures whose exact stylistic proclivities are difficult to pin down. At times he can seem emotionally cool, at others he borders on the effusive; occasionally the virtuoso side of ...
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ArticleJanácek: String Quartet no.2 ‘Intimate Letters’. Haas: String Quartet no.2 op.7 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Pavel Haas Quartet, Colin Currie (percussion)Composer: Janácek, Haas This beautifully engineered disc offers a brilliant and instructive recording of the oft-recorded Janá?ek Second Quartet. The prizewinning Pavel Haas Quartet comprises four relative youngsters, but the precise calibre of their ...
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ArticleKreutzer: 42 Etudes
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Cihat A¸skin (violin)Composer: KreutzerWhen asked to comment on Rudolphe Kreutzer’s 42 Etudes and Caprices for Violin (1796), the great virtuoso Wieniawski commented, ‘We certainly do not realise how difficult [the etudes] really are and must take care while playing them.’ Before ...
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ArticleLarcher: Ixxu, Cold Farmer, My Illness Is the Medicine I Need, Mumien
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Christoph Poppen (violin) Thomas Demenga (cello) Thomas Larcher (piano) Andrea Lauren Brown (soprano) Rosamunde QuartetComposer: Larcher Atonality and tonality bonded together by inventive rhythmic patterns provide the Austrian composer Thomas Larcher with a very personal voice. The present disc ...
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ArticleMarais: Les folies d’Espagne, Suite in B minor, Le labyrinthe
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Ensemble SpiraleComposer: Marais This CD concentrates on Marais’s Deuxième livre de pièces, published in 1701 but comprising music from the previous 20 years. The opening Folies, a first version of which is found in a manuscript from around 1680, ...
