All Review articles – Page 126
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ReviewBach: Sonatas and Partitas BWV1001–6
The Strad Issue: July 2015Description: Brisk but intimate solo Bach on Shaham’s 1699 StradivariMusicians: Gil Shaham (violin)Composer: BachAs you listen to this recording, it is easy to imagine that microphones were placed in Gil Shaham’s music room to eavesdrop as he amused himself playing through Bach’s Sonatas ...
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ReviewMozart: Violin Concerto no.5 in A major K219. Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto no.4 in D minor
The Strad Issue: July 2015Description: Emotive playing from Hahn in 18th- and 19th-century concertosMusicians: Hilary Hahn (violin) Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/Paavo JärviComposer: Mozart, VieuxtempsI have always warmed to the ardent and honest playing of Hilary Hahn. In many ways this disc does not disappoint. The Vieuxtemps Concerto is ...
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ReviewPortuguese Music for Solo Cello. Azevedo: Labirintho. Azguime: Moment Á l’extrêmement… Côrte-Real: Bicicleta do poeta. Delgado: Antagonia. Ribeiro: Ostinati
The Strad Issue: July 2015Description: New music for unaccompanied cello, played with passion and considerationMusicians: Filipe Quaresma (cello)Composer: Azevedo, Azguime, Côrte-Real, Delgado, RibeiroThe young Portuguese cellist Filipe Quaresma has feet in both the period-performance and contemporary music worlds, something that’s immediately evident in his precise, superbly articulated ...
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ReviewMartinu¯: Rhapsody-Concerto; Three Madrigals; Duo no.2; Viola Sonata
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: July 2015Description: Martinu¯’s viola works majestically performed by Rysanov and friendsMusicians: Maxim Rysanov (viola) Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin) Katya Apekisheva (piano) BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jirí BÄ›lohlávekComposer: Martinu¯In his teens, Bohuslav Martinu¯ seemed to be heading towards a career as a violin virtuoso. Although his ...
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ReviewThe Twenty-Fifth Hour. Adès: Piano Quintet; The Four Quarters; Arcadiana
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: July 2015Description: Experience tells in the fearsome rhythms of Adès’s chamber musicMusicians: Calder Quartet, Thomas Adès (piano)Composer: AdèsThe Los Angeles-based Calder Quartet has been playing these three chamber works by Thomas Adès for several years, we are assured in the perceptive booklet ...
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ReviewIvry Gitlis: Works by Bartók, Brahms, Bloch, Debussy, Haubenstock-Ramati, Hindemith, Saint-Saëns and Wieniawski
The Strad Issue: June 2016 Description: The two faces of Ivry Gitlis in recordings covering 1962–86 Musicians: Ivry Gitlis (violin) Daria Hovora (piano) Stuttgart Radio Orchestra/Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, SWR SO Baden-Baden/Hans Rosbaud, Orchestra of the National Theatre, Mannheim/Wolfgang Rennert ...
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ReviewBrahms: Piano Quartet no.1 in G minor op.25. Mahler: Piano Quartet in A minor. Schumann: Piano Quartet in E flat major op.47
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: July 2015Description: New York audience holds its breath for piano quartets from Hope and friendsMusicians: Daniel Hope (violin) Paul Neubauer (viola) David Finckel (cello) Wu Han (piano)Composer: Brahms, Mahler, SchumannThe piano quartet genre belongs to the 19th century, with outliers from Mozart ...
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ReviewVilsmaÿr: Six Partitas for Solo Violin. Biber: Passacaglia in G minor. Pisendel: Solo Violin Sonata in A minor
The Strad Issue: June 2016 Description: First-hand advocacy for solo violin works that pre-date Bach Musicians: Vaughan Jones (violin) Composer: Vilsmaÿr; Biber; Pisendel Catalogue number: FIRST HAND RECORDS FHR 38 (2 CDs) Vilsmaÿr’s ...
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ReviewShostakovich: Violin Sonata op.134; Unfinished Violin Sonata; Andantino from String Quartet no.4 op.83 (arr. Dmitri Tsyganov). Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms (arr. Shostakovich). Braga: La Serenata (a
The Strad Issue: June 2016Description: Shostakovich’s Sonata and some cuttings from the composer’s workbenchMusicians: Sasha Rozhdestvensky (violin) Jeremy Menuhin, Mookie Lee-Menuhin (piano) Ilona Domnich (soprano) Alexandra Sherman (mezzo-soprano)Composer: Shostakovich; Stravinsky; BragaCatalogue Number: FIRST HAND RECORDS FHR 37Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata, written in 1968 as a 60th-birthday present for ...
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ReviewOscar Shumsky: Legendary Treasures. Works by Bach, Beethoven, Buxtehude, Hindemith, Kreisler, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Schumann, Strauss, Tartini, Telemann and Wieniawski
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: Historic recordings from a great American violinistMusicians: Oscar Shumsky (violin) Nadia Reisenberg, Carroll Hollister, Mario Bernardi, Leo Barkin, George Schick, Earl Wild, Frank Maus (piano) Lois Marshall, Erna Berger (sopranos) Maureen Forrester (contralto) James Melton (tenor) Bach Aria Group, CBC Orchestra, Al ...
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ReviewJohanna Martzy: Berlin Recordings 1953–66. Works by Bach, Brahms, Dvorák, Falla, Fiocco, Handel, Kreisler, Ravel, Respighi and Vivaldi
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: Historic recordings by a great Hungarian violinistMusicians: Johanna Martzy (violin) Jean Antonietti (piano) RIAS Symphony Orchestra/Ferenc FricsayComposer: Bach, Brahms, Dvorák, Falla, Fiocco, Handel, Kreisler, Ravel, Respighi and VivaldiThis set of German Radio recordings by Hungarian violinist Johanna Martzy (1924–79) contains a surprise. ...
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ReviewLa Vida Breve. Works by Assad, Cassadó, Falla, Gardel, Gismonti, Granados, Lara, Piazzolla and Ravel
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: Spanish sunshine and passion for cello and guitarMusicians: Nadège Rochat (cello) Rafael Aguirre (guitar)Composer: Assad, Cassadó, Falla, Gardel, Gismonti, Granados, Lara, Piazzolla and RavelWhat’s not to like in a release where the cello delivers harmonious Spanish-inflected melodies, by turns fiery and quixotic, ...
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ReviewThe 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic: Recordings 1978–2010
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: The collected complete recordings of Berlin’s cello supergroupMusicians: 12 Cellists of the Berlin PhilharmonicComposer: VariousAs if the nostalgia of its 40th anniversary DVD were not enough, Warner now releases all eight recordings made by that incomparable musical institution, the 12 Cellists of ...
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ReviewZemlinsky: Complete String Quartets
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: The Brodskys brilliantly traverse Zemlinsky’s quartets from A to ZMusicians: Brodsky QuartetComposer: ZemlinskyHearing all Zemlinsky’s quartets in one go provides an aural mini-biography of the composer and his influences: the unnumbered 1893 E minor Quartet and no.1 (1896) see him already enlarging ...
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ReviewWalton: Viola Concerto. Schnittke: Passacaglia for Orchestra
Description: Touch-and-go in Bashmet’s Moscow premiere of Walton’s Viola ConcertoMusicians: Yuri Bashmet (viola) Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow State Philharmonic Society/Dmitri KitayenkoComposer: Walton, SchnittkeWilliam Walton’s Viola Concerto is one of those pieces that keeps getting slower over the years, but even so I was amazed at seeing ...
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ReviewVivaldi: I Concerti dell’addio: Violin Concertos in C major RV189; in †¨E minor RV273; in F major RV286; in B flat major RV367; in B flat major RV371; in B minor RV390
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: Late concertos from Vivaldi’s Viennese yearsMusicians: Fabio Biondi (violin/director) Europa GalanteComposer: VivaldiVivaldi composed his ‘Farewell’ Concertos in his twilight years while searching desperately for creative opportunities in Vienna. Drawn from a collection currently preserved in Brno, the works on this disc confirm ...
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ReviewLiszt: Duo Sonata on Polish Themes; Epithalamium; The Three Gypsies; Two Elegies; Valse-Impromptu (arr. Hubay); Grand duo concertant on Lafont’s ‘Le marin’
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: Polish players explore Liszt’s little-known chamber musicMusicians: Voytek Proniewicz (violin) Wojciech Waleczek (piano)Composer: LisztPolish duo Proniewicz and Waleczek have produced a nicely shaped selection of Liszt’s still relatively unexplored chamber music. The two chunkiest items frame the programme. The first is a ...
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ReviewHétu: Complete Chamber Music for Strings
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: Chamber works by a French-trained Canadian composerMusicians: New Orford Quartet, Steven Dann (viola) Colin Carr (cello) Timothy Hutchins (flute)Composer: HétuThis vividly recorded CD gathers the complete chamber music for strings – spanning almost half a century – of Canadian composer Jacques Hétu ...
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ReviewFauré: Piano Trio in D minor op.120. Pierné: Piano Trio in C minor op.45
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: The Wanderer pairs French piano trios from the 1920sMusicians: Wanderer TrioComposer: Fauré, PiernéThere is some lush writing in Gabriel Pierné’s 1921 Piano Trio in C minor, which the Wanderer Trio treats with an appropriate sweetness of tone. The first movement covers a ...
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ReviewBartók: Divertimento. Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings op.48
The Strad Issue: June 2015Description: String-ensemble standards captured live in characteristic Barbican soundMusicians: London Symphony Orchestra String Ensemble/Roman Simović (violin)Composer: Bartók, TchaikovskyLast month’s Masterclass writer Roman Simović, directing the London Symphony Orchestra String Ensemble from the leader’s chair, brings much pleasure in a polished and poised account ...
