All Review articles – Page 147
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ReviewSchubert: String Quartet in G major D887, Quartettsatz in C minor D703
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A tribute to the art of ensemble playingMusicians: Wihan QuartetComposer: SchubertEverything about this recording suggests long acquaintance and a great deal of thought. The great G major Quartet has a dramatic, operatic intensity to it, a sense of powerful narrative ...
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ReviewLalo: Cello Concerto in D minor. Berlioz: Love Scene from Roméo et Juliette. Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no.2 in D minor op.119
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A highly successful rehabilitation of two lesser-known French cello concertosMusicians: Pieter Wispelwey (cello) Flanders Symphony Orchestra/Seikyo KimComposer: Lalo, Berlioz, Saint-SaënsPieter Wispelwey appears on this disc as a cellist in total control of his instrument. He draws a clear, pure, but ...
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ReviewSchubert: Violin Sonatas in D major D384, A minor D385, G minor D408 & A major D574, Rondo in B minor D895, Fantasy in C major D934, Sei mir gegrüsst! D741
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Outgoing performances of Schubert’s complete violin musicMusicians: Alina Ibragimova (violin) Cédric Tiberghien (piano)Composer: SchubertComposed in one hectic year when Schubert was 19, the first three violin sonatas were in a style inherited from Mozart, and were described as ‘sonatinas’ when first published ...
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ReviewScelsi: The Violin Works: Divertimentos nos.2–4, L’me ailée – L’me ouverte, Xnoybis
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Weird and wonderful sounds for solo violin from an Italian maverickMusicians: Weiping Lin (violin)Composer: ScelsiRecord label Mode has been careful not to call this fine release the ‘complete’ solo violin works by idiosyncratic 20th-century Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905–88): the Divertimento no.1, ...
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ReviewGrieg: Violin Concertos nos.1–3 (violin sonatas, orch. Kraggerud & Lund)
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Intriguing new concerto versions of Grieg’s violin sonatasMusicians: Henning Kraggerud (violin) Tromsø Chamber OrchestraComposer: Grieg (orch. Kraggerud & Lund)By his own account, Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud has been ‘troubled… since I was a boy’ by the dearth of Norwegian works ...
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ReviewBrahms: String Quartet in A minor op.51 no.2, Clarinet Quintet in B minor op.115
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Beautifully polished performances of two Brahms masterpiecesMusicians: Jerusalem Quartet, Sharon Kam (clarinet)Composer: BrahmsThankfully we have passed beyond the era when clarinettists thought of the Brahms Quintet as a quasi-concerto, though few have gone quite so far in the opposite direction ...
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ReviewTchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major op.35, Souvenir de Florence op.70
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A notably lyrical account of a Russian warhorseMusicians: Sarah Nemtanu, Luc Héry (violin) Sabine Toutain, Christophe Gaugué (viola) Raphaël Perraud, Jean-Luc Bourré (cello) Orchestre National de France/Kurt MasurComposer: TchaikovskyIt is astonishing just how far the interpretative pendulum has swung in ...
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ReviewBruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor op.26. Chausson: Poème op.25. Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major op.35
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A heady mix of Romanticism tempered by subtle playingMusicians: Arabella Steinbacher (violin) Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon/Lawrence FosterComposer: Bruch, Chausson, KorngoldA whole disc of full-on Romanticism, such these works represent, could be too much for the nervous system were it not for the lithe ...
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ReviewSaint-Saëns: Music for violin and piano vol.1. Violin Sonata no.1 in D minor op.75, Berceuse op.38, Élégies opp.143 & 160, Sarabande et rigaudon op.93, Romance op.37 L’air de la pendule, Triptyque op.
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Performances that set a new standard in the playing of Saint-Saëns’s violin musicMusicians: Fanny Clamagirand (violin) Vanya Cohen (piano)Composer: Saint-SaënsThe mellifluous ease and radiant lyricism of Saint-Saëns’s D minor Violin Sonata was captured with such impassioned precision by Jascha Heifetz that for ...
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ReviewSchumann: Violin Sonatas nos.1–3
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Probing accounts of Schumann’s late sonatasMusicians: Anthony Marwood (violin) Aleksandar Madžar (piano)Composer: SchumannOne of Schumann’s countless innovations, still sadly underappreciated, was his mould-breaking tendency to create expressive structures with their own internal logic. In the violin sonatas Gidon Kremer (Deutsche Grammophon) first ...
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ReviewShostakovich: Cello Concerto no.1 op.107, Cello Sonata op.40, Moderato
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A vision of Shostakovich that works better in the chamber fieldMusicians: Emmanuelle Bertrand (cello) Pascal Amoyel (piano) BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Pascal RophéComposer: Shostakovich The arresting opening four-note motif of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto should convey menace in its unnerving tonal ambiguity, ...
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ReviewDittersdorf: Double Bass Concertos nos.1 & 2, Sinfonia concertante for viola & double bass, Duetto
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Highly accomplished performances of Dittersdorf’s complete double bass concertante worksMusicians: Leon Bosch (double bass) Robert Smissen (viola) Academy of St Martinuin the Fields/Kenneth Sillito (director)Composer: Dittersdorf Leon Bosch’s accounts of Dittersdorf’s two solo concertos abound in personality, imagination, warmth and humanity. His ...
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ReviewHaydn: String Quartet in G major op.77 no.1. Nordheim: Duplex. Bartók: String Quartet no.5
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Music-making that is often overshadowed by the richness of the recordingMusicians: EngegŠrd QuartetComposer: Haydn, Nordheim, BartókIt’s the recording itself that’s the real star of this disc. 2L’s exceptionally transparent, generous sound picks out each of the quartet’s players as individuals, yet also ...
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ReviewBach: Cello Suites BWV1007–12
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Mixed results in performances that combine mannerism and eloquenceMusicians: Jan Vogler (cello)Composer: BachJan Vogler uses a standard four-string set-up for all six of the Bach Cello Suites. His range of tone adds to the power of his performances, infectiously rhythmic in the ...
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ReviewBrahms: Viola Sonatas op.120. Schubert: Sonata in A minor D821 ‘Arpeggione’
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Generally pleasing accounts of works originally for other instrumentsMusicians: Robin Ireland (viola) Tim Horton (piano)Composer: Brahms & SchubertThe latest recording from this long-standing, perfectly attuned partnership was made at Potton Hall recording studio in Suffolk ‘in front of an invited audience’ that ...
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ReviewSpain Through Strings. Arriaga: String Quartet no.3 in E flat major. Turina: La oración del torero. Toldrá: Vistas al mar. Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Quintet for guitar and strings op.143A
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A rewarding disc of mainly Spanish works for string quartetMusicians: Zemlinsky Quartet, Miriam Rodriguez Brüllová (guitar)Composer: Arriaga, Turina, Toldrá, Castelnuovo-TedescoAlthough the Italian-born Castelnuovo-Tedesco is an interloper in a disc of otherwise Spanish composers, it is his Guitar Quintet that forms the highlight. ...
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ReviewMendelssohn: String Quartets in E minor op.44 no.2 & F minor op.80, Capriccio op.81 no.3
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A generally successful first volume in a Mendelssohn cycleMusicians: Maggini QuartetComposer: MendelssohnHaving gained much critical acclaim in the field of rarely recorded British music, the Maggini Quartet is spreading its wings with this first release in a projected cycle of Mendelssohn’s works ...
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ReviewCelloquy. Auerbach: 24 Preludes, Cello Sonata, Postlude
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Be prepared for a non-stop emotional rollercoaster ride – and then relaxMusicians: Ani Aznavoorian (cello) Lera Auerbach (piano)Composer: AuerbachDespite the astonishing performances, this disc of cello-and-piano works by US composer Lera Auerbach makes for exhausting listening. Her music lives at a relentless ...
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ReviewHaydn: String Quartets op.33 ‘Russian’
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Ear-opening period-instrument performances from an early printed editionMusicians: London Haydn QuartetComposer: HaydnPlaying on gut strings and with Classical bows, the London Haydn Quartet has reached op.33 in its survey for Hyperion of the Haydn quartets. As in the previous three releases the ...
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ReviewRecursions. Viola music by Biber (transc. Lebermann), Rubbra, Hovhaness, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Cords & Irish trad.
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Nothing formulaic about the programming or playing of solo viola musicMusicians: Nicholas Cords (viola)Composer: Biber (transc. Lebermann), Rubbra, Hovhaness, Stravinsky, Hindemith and CordsIn this enterprisingly programmed and vividly recorded CD, Nicholas Cords – violist with, among other adventurous groups, Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk ...
