All Review articles – Page 139
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ReviewBrahms: Violin Sonatas no.1 in G major op.78, no 2 in A op.100 & no.3 in D minor op.108
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Proof that individuality can have its place in Brahms interpretationMusicians: Ida Bieler (violin) James Maddox (piano)Composer: BrahmsOf the works that I regularly review, few receive such a divergence of interpretation as the three Brahms violin sonatas. This new release from the American-born violinist Ida Bieler falls ...
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ReviewBiber: Fidicinium sacro-profanum
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A vibrant performance of a 17th-century sonata collectionMusicians: Ars Antiqua Austria/Gunar Letzbor (violin/director) Composer: BiberArs Antiqua Austria’s investigation of Biber’s instrumental music continues with Fidicinium sacro-profanum (1683), twelve sonatas scored for one or two violins, two violas and continuo. Combining sacred ...
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ReviewThe Soviet Experience Vol.4: Shostakovich: String Quartets nos.13–15. Schnittke: String Quartet no.3
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A worthy conclusion to an impressive Shostakovich cycleMusicians: Pacifica QuartetComposer: Shostakovich, SchnittkeThis volume completes the Pacifica’s cycle of Shostakovich quartets. It opens with a clear, searching exposition of the dark 13th Quartet, superbly paced, inexorable, with a tonal range austere at one extreme and ...
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ReviewBaRock Experience. Barrière Cello Sonatas nos.1–3. Vivaldi: Cello Sonatas no.3 in A minor RV43, no.5 in E minor RV40 & no.6 in B flat major RV46
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Some lesser-known Baroque sonatas fare well in the company of familiar VivaldiMusicians: Jelena O?i? (cello) Ljerka O?i? (organ)Composer: Barrière, VivaldiJean Barrière’s sonatas are tremendous, and by rights should be widely played rather than offered as an interesting by-way of Baroque repertoire. They are chock full ...
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ReviewSmetana: String Quartet no.1 in E minor ‘From my life’. Janácek: String Quartets no.1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ & no.2 ‘Intimate Letters’
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Performances that bring out the personal nature of the works’ inspirationsMusicians: Jerusalem QuartetComposer: Smetana, JanácekIt is clear from the opening of Smetana’s First Quartet that the Jerusalem players have the quality essential for all these deeply personal works: character, and lots of ...
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ReviewBantock: Violin Sonata no.3. Scott: Viola Sonata. Sacheverell Coke: Violin Sonata no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Welcome airings of long-forgotten British sonatas for violin and violaMusicians: Rupert Marshall-Luck (violin/viola) Matthew Rickard (piano)Composer: Bantock, Scott, Sacheverell Coke It’s always heartening to see efforts to revive the works of lesser-known, or even long-forgotten British composers, and to that ...
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ReviewTubin: Violin Sonata no.1, Suite on Estonian Dance Pieces, Three Pieces, Meditation, Prelude, Capriccio no.2, Cock’s Dance Paganini Caprice op.1 no.24 (arr. Tubin)
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Rare repertoire from Estonia lovingly presentedMusicians: Sigrid Kuulmann (violin) Marko Martinu(piano)Composer: TubinEduard Tubin composed a substantial amount of violin music, including two concertos as well as this first large-scale sonata by an Estonian, written shortly after completing his First Symphony in 1934. ...
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ReviewBach: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin BWV1001–6, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (arr. Stepner, after BWV903)
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A curious mixture of period instruments and modern techniqueMusicians: Daniel Stepner (violin)Composer: BachDaniel Stepner is renowned for his versatility, but these performances fall between two stools. He plays a c.1740 Sebastian Klotz, a 1641 Nicolò Amati, restored to period condition, and a ‘modernised’ ...
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ReviewWeinberg: Complete Violin Sonatas Vol.2: Violin Sonatas no.2 op.15 & no.5 op.53, Solo Violin Sonata no.2 op.95, Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes op.47 no.3
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A wide range of emotion from a master of the Soviet era, expertly traversedMusicians: Yuri Kalnits (violin) Michael Csányi-Wills (piano)Composer: WeinbergIn this much-anticipated follow-up to the first volume in this series, which I welcomed back in September 2011, Yuri Kalnits and Michael ...
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ReviewClassic Meets Rock
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A double bass foursome tackles some rock classics with relishMusicians: BassMonsters: Thomas Jauch, Claus Freudenstein, Giorgi Makhoshvili, Stephan Bauer (double bass)Bring together four middle-aged male double bass players and put them in a studio to record a side project, and the resulting album ...
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ReviewThe Grappelli Album
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A loving tribute to the gypsy swing masterMusicians: Tim Kliphuis Trio: Tim Kliphuis (violin) Nigel Clark (guitar) Roy Percy (double bass)Composer: GrappelliDutch jazz violinist Tim Kliphuis is the foremost ambassador for the music of Stéphane Grappelli and for the enduringly distinctive ...
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ReviewRecital for cello and piano. Works by Kodály, Schubert, Dohnányi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Kreisler & Brahms
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An entertaining cello recital combining sonatas with encoresMusicians: Wen-Sinn Yang (cello) Adrian Oetiker (piano)Composer: Kodály, Schubert, Dohnányi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Kreisler & BrahmsThis balanced recital programme offers both familiar and less well-trodden repertoire, the latter including Kodály’s Sonatina – a mix of folk elements ...
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ReviewGrieg: Violin Sonata no.2 in G major op.13. Chausson: Poème op.25. Franck: Violin Sonata in A major
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Mature playing from a teenage virtuosoMusicians: Callum Smart (violin) Gordon Back (piano)Composer: Grieg, Chausson, FranckCallum Smart won the strings category of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2010 when he was 13, and his career has been ...
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ReviewBeethoven: String Quartet in G major op.18 no.2. Bartók: String Quartet no.3. Brahms: String Quartet in C minor op.51 no.1
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An impressive first disc from a young German quartetMusicians: Schumann QuartetComposer: Beethoven, Bartók, BrahmsThe three Schumann brothers, Erik, Ken and Mark, and violist Ayako Goto came together in 2007, and after awards in several competitions, their ensemble has emerged as ...
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ReviewMendelssohn: String Quartet in E flat major op.44 no.3, Octet in E flat major op.20, Four Pieces for String Quartet op.81 nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Satisfying quartet playing, but a diffuse account of the OctetMusicians: Mandelring Quartet, Cremona QuartetComposer: MendelssohnComposed for the virtuoso Ferdinand David in the first violin’s chair, the third of Mendelssohn’s op.44 quartets is more technically demanding than most violin concertos from the first half of the 19th ...
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ReviewFantasy and Farewell. McLean: Suite. Schumann: Märchenbilder op.113 (arr. McLean). Shostakovich: Viola Sonata op.147 (arr. V. Mendelssohn)
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Three unrelated viola works performed with varying successMusicians: Roger Myers (viola) London Symphony Orchestra/Michael FrancisComposer: McLean, Schumann, ShostakovichMichael McLean’s Suite for viola and orchestra was written in 2008 for Roger Myers at whose request the composer took Bach’s chorale ‘Befiehl du deine ...
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ReviewRomantic Duos. Liszt: Grand duo concertant, Consolation no.3 (arr. Milstein). Bridge: Violin Sonata, Romanze, Heart’s Ease. Grieg: Violin Sonata in C minor op.45
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An unusual collection performed by an assured duo Husband-and-wife duoMusicians: Benjamin Schmid (violin) Ariane Haering (piano)Composer: Liszt, Bridge, GriegBenjamin Schmid and Ariane Haering are a formidable pairing who live and breathe these scores as one, matching even the most subtle of dynamic and ...
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ReviewMétamorphoses nocturnes. Ligeti: String quartets no.1 ‘Métamorphoses nocturnes’ & no.2, Sonata for solo cello
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Assured but over-safe accounts of Ligeti’s fantastical creationsMusicians: Béla QuartetComposer: LigetiThe four young French players of the Béla Quartet make great play of the unbridled fantasy and mischievous humour in Ligeti’s music in their introductory booklet notes to this enjoyable release, so it comes ...
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ReviewPaganini: 24 Caprices op.1. Paganini Unpublished. Paganini: Six Sonatinas, Sonata with Variations, Four Studies
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Knowns and unknowns explored in two new Paganini releasesMusicians: Yehonatan Berick (violin) Stefano Delle Donne (violin) Marco Scicli (viola) Damiano Puliti (cello) Adriano Sebastiani (guitar)Composer: PaganiniYehonatan Berick’s Paganini Caprices (packaged with both DVD and Blu-Ray discs) offer little in terms of innovation, ...
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ReviewPenderecki: Capriccio per Siegfried Palm, Per Slava, Violoncello totale, Suite. Xenakis: Kottos, Nomos alpha
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Contrasting sound worlds from two modern mastersMusicians: Wiktor Kociuban (cello)Composer: Penderecki, XenakisWith two major contemporary composers named prominently on its cover, you might expect young Polish cellist Wiktor Kociuban’s stimulating CD to hold an hour of predictably thorny, challenging music. In fact, it’s very much ...
