All Reviews articles – Page 130
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ReviewMeyer: Sounds of Being
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Stylish, philosophical new works for virtual viola ensembleMusicians: Jessica Meyer (viola, loop pedal, vocals)Composer: MeyerMaking an album of new music for solo viola is a brave move. But New York violist and composer Jessica Meyer builds a sound world with each piece ...
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ReviewLeclair: Sonatas for two unaccompanied violins op.3
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Proficient performances of Leclair’s Italian–French fusionsMusicians: Anima ConcordiaComposer: LeclairHusband-and-wife Baroque violin duo Paul Herrera and Kaori Toda form a technically assured and cohesive partnership in these accounts of Leclair’s Six Sonatas op.3. They thoroughly acknowledge Leclair’s marriage of Italian and French styles ...
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ReviewShostakovich: String Quartets nos.14 op.142 & 15 op.144; Two Pieces op.36
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: The Czech ensemble offers rapt readings of Shostakovich’s last quartetsMusicians: Pražák QuartetComposer: ShostakovichThe two Shostakovich quartets on this recording are described in the booklet as his last diptych, although the proofreader missed the wild inaccuracy of his dates, given here as 1841–1904, ...
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ReviewLittle Girl Blue: From Nina Simone
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: A cellist’s tribute to the music of a great jazz singer–songwriterMusicians: Sonia Wieder-Atherton (cello) Bruno Fontaine (piano) Laurent Kraif (percussion)Composer: Nina SimoneCellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton continues her impressively varied output on the Naïve label with a new project to follow recordings of music ...
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ReviewGadenstätter: bersten/platzen. Koglmann: Days of Yore. Osborne: Roma Diaries
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Contemporary works performed by their committed dedicateeMusicians: Florian Kitt (cello) Aima Maria Labra-Makk (piano)Composer: Gadenstätter, Koglmann, OsborneBursting/splitting is the usefully if uncomfortably graphic title of Clemens Gadenstätter’s 25-minute work of 2012, apparently divided into four sections. Coherence is hard to establish from ...
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ReviewFauré: Piano Quartet no.1 in C minor op.15. Bonis: Piano Quartet no.1 op.69
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Fauré’s First Piano Quartet and a delightful discovery from a contemporary of DebussyMusicians: Giardini Piano QuartetComposer: Fauré, BonisThere are many good things on this recording. The playing is fluid and often extremely beautiful, the tone sweet and appealing. First impressions, sadly, are ...
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ReviewThe Catalan Virtuoso. Cervera-Bret: Elegía, Romanza, Nocturno, Reverie, Berceuse, Recuerdo de Londres, Cielo gris, Introducción y tarantel-la, Fascinación, El carnival de Venecia
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Virtuoso bass playing in rarely heard Catalan miniaturesMusicians: Leon Bosch (double bass) Sung-Suk Kang, Min-Jung Kym (piano)Composer: Cervera-BretThe double bassist–composer Josep Cervera-Bret (1883–1969) is the least known of the trio of virtuosos (the others were Pedro Valls and Anton Torello) who comprised ...
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ReviewRomance oubliée. Sitt: Albumblätter op.39. Glazunov: Elegy op.44. Vierne: Two Pieces. Vieuxtemps: Élégie op.30. Wieniawski: Rêverie. Liszt: Romance oubliée. Kreisler: Romance; Aucassin et Nicolette. K
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Zimmermann takes a break from Hindemith with a selection of viola lollipopsMusicians: Tabea Zimmermann (viola) Thomas Hoppe (piano)Composer: SItt, Glazunov, Vierne, Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, Liszt, Kreisler, KodályIn contrast to her Hindemithian labours of the last couple of years, for this recording ...
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ReviewC.P.E. Bach: Cello Concertos in A minor, B flat major & A major Wq170–2
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Contemporary cadenzas shed new light on Carl Philipp EmanuelMusicians: Konstantin Manaev (cello) Berlin CamerataComposer: C.P.E. Bach‘Polystylistic’ is not a word one would expect to apply to a disc of C.P.E. Bach concertos, however revolutionary his writing may have been. The addition of ...
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ReviewJohanna Martzy Vol.3. Works by Vivaldi, Szymanowski, Martinu¯, Ravel, Bartók, Brahms, Falla, Mozart, Bach & Suk
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Welcome exposure for the artistry of a neglected Hungarian virtuosoMusicians: Johanna Martzy (violin) Adolph Hallis, István Hajdu (piano) Stuttgart Radio Orchestra/Hans Müller-Kray, Netherlands Radio Orchestra/Willem van Otterloo, New York Philharmonic/André Cluytens, Cleveland Orchestra/George SzellComposer: Vivaldi, Szymanowski, Martinu¯, Ravel, Bartók, Brahms, Falla, Mozart, ...
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ReviewMozart: String Quartet no.21 in D major K575. Ives: String Quartet no.2. Verdi: String Quartet
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2015Description: A brilliant young quartet in contrasting works from three centuriesMusicians: Schumann QuartetComposer: Mozart, Ives, VerdiThis is the Schumann Quartet’s eagerly awaited follow-up to its outstanding 2013 debut disc of Beethoven, Bartók and Brahms. Lithe, tonally transparent, sparklingly articulated, finely vibratoed, ...
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ReviewVaughan Williams: Violin Concerto, The Lark Ascending. Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, Serenade for Strings
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: A disappointing revival of a little-known concertoMusicians: Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) Orchestra of the Swan/David CurtisComposer: Vaughan Williams, ElgarWritten for Jelly d’Arányi (who, the composer thought, took scant advantage of her six-month exclusive performing period), Vaughan Williams’s Violin Concerto has few champions even ...
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ReviewBrahms: Violin Sonatas nos.1–3; Scherzo from ‘F–A–E’ Sonata
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Dumay returns to Brahms with yet more revealing resultsMusicians: Augustin Dumay (violin) Louis Lortie (piano)Composer: BrahmsWith two fine recordings of these timeless scores already safely under his belt (on EMI/Warner with Michel Béroff and on Deutsche Grammophon, minus the ‘F–A–E’ ...
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ReviewUstvolskaya: Sonata for violin and piano, Trio for clarinet, violin and piano, Duet for violin and piano
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: Committed playing makes this uncompromising music a compelling experienceMusicians: Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Reto Bieri (clarinet) Markus Hinterhäuser (piano)Composer: UstvolskayaThe reclusive Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya had not yet hit her notoriously raw, intense stride in the three early string-focused works on this astonishing ...
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ReviewNozeman: Sonatas for violin and basso continuo op.2
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Demonstrative and colourful approach to Nozeman’s second opusMusicians: Antoinette Lohman (violin) Furor MusicusComposer: NozemanThese stylish accounts of the op.2 Sonatas by Jacobus Nozeman (1693–1745) use a rich diversity of continuo instruments to striking effect. Although the technical stakes are higher than in ...
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ReviewSculthorpe: Complete String Quartets with Didjeridu: no.12 ‘From Ubirr’, no.14 ‘Quamby’, no.16 & no.18
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: An unusual combination of instruments brings gripping resultsMusicians: Del Sol Quartet, Stephen Kent (didgeridoo)Composer: SculthorpeIt’s an eyebrow-raising combination – string quartet and didgeridoo. But it’s one that this excellent CD (and Blu-ray audio) set makes a strong case for – in Sculthorpe’s ...
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ReviewProkofiev: Cello Sonata in C major op.119, Waltz from The Stone Flower (arr. Limonov), March from The Love for Three Oranges (arr. Limonov), Adagio from Cinderella (arr. Rostropovich). Kabalevsky: Cel
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: An excellent follow-up to a debut disc that completes the great Russian cello sonata triptychMusicians: Leonard Elschenbroich (cello) Alexei Grynyuk, Petr Limonov (piano) Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew LittonComposer: Prokofiev, KabalevskyLeonard Elschenbroich and Alexei Grynyuk, whose 2013 debut recording (also on Onyx) comprised Shostakovich ...
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ReviewMendelssohn: Piano Quartets no.1 in C minor & no.3 in B minor, Largo and Allegro in D minor
The Strad Issue: March 2015Description: Early Mendelssohn that might have been lifted by more inspiring playingMusicians: Gabriele Pieranunzi, Daniela Cammarano (violin) Francesco Fiore (viola) Shana Downes (cello) Roberto Prosseda (piano)Composer: MendelssohnMendelssohn’s extraordinary precocity is amply demonstrated on this disc. Presented in counter-chronological order, it starts with the ...
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ReviewMessages. A. Panufnik: String Quartets no.1, no.2 ‘Messages’ & no.3 ‘Wycinanki’, Song to the Virgin Mary (arr. A. Panufnik)1, Prayer (arr. R. Panufnik). R. Panufnik Memories of My Father
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: A celebration of a composing father-and-daughter relationshipMusicians: Brodsky Quartet, Robert Smissen (viola) Richard May (cello)Composer: A. Panufnik, R. PanufnikReleased to mark the centenary of Andrzej Panufnik’s birth, this disc features all three of his string quartets, a form he resisted until his ...
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ReviewSolo. Kodály: Solo Cello Sonata op.8. Golijov: Omaramor. Cassadó: Suite for solo cello. Sheng: Seven Tunes Heard in China
The Strad Issue: February 2015Description: A highly rewarding disc of works for solo celloMusicians: Alisa Weilerstein (cello)Composer: Kodály, Golijov, Cassadó, ShengFor her third disc, Alisa Weilerstein goes it alone, with two classics of the solo cello repertoire from the early 20th century and two more personal choices ...
