All Reviews articles – Page 149
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ReviewSciarrino: String quartets nos.7 & 8, Sei quartetti brevi
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Confident accounts of the work of an Italian modernistMusicians: Prometeo QuartetComposer: SciarrinoIt’s easy for the strange, evanescent, half-heard micro-gestures of contemporary Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino’s fragile music to sound cold and clinical – a catalogue of glistening sound effects with no story ...
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ReviewSchnittke: Piano Quartet, String Trio, Piano Quintet
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Performances that get to the heart of a Russian composer’s bared emotionsMusicians: Molinari Quartet, Marcin Swoboda (viola) Louise Bessette (piano)Composer: SchnittkeWhen Schnittke composed his Piano Quintet between 1972 and 1976, the deaths of his mother and of his friend Shostakovich weighed heavily ...
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ReviewTelemann: 12 Fantasias for solo violin TWV40:14–25
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Stylish performances of Telemann’s solo violin fantasiasMusicians: Maya Magub (violin)Composer: TelemannMaya Magub’s accounts confirm her musical allegiances in both modern and period camps – she uses a modified c.1760 Gagliano violin tuned to modern concert pitch, a relatively modern bow, a combination ...
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ReviewMoeran Cello Concerto, Serenade in G major, Lonely Waters, Whythorne’s Shadow
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: An eloquent account of a rarely heard British cello concertoMusicians: Guy Johnston (cello) Rebekah Coffey (soprano) Ulster Orchestra/JoAnn FallettaComposer: MoeranWritten in 1945, Moeran’s Cello Concerto is a lyrical work. It is given a sensitive and persuasive rendition by British cellist Guy Johnston, ...
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ReviewLiszt: Élégies nos.1 & 2, Romance oubliée, La lugubre gondola, Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, Consolations, O du mein holder Abendstern. Dohnányi: Cello Sonata in B flat major op.8, Ruralia hungarica op.32
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A disc of Hungarian cello music that impresses most in the lower registersMusicians: Raphael Wallfisch (cello) John York (piano)Composer: Liszt, Dohnányi, KodályA feast of Hungarian music is added here to Raphael Wallfisch’s already hugely extensive discography. It is surprising to realise that ...
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ReviewLalo: Piano Trio no.1 in C minor op.7. Bruch: Piano Trio in C minor op.5. Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor op.49
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: More delicacy than indulgence in Romantic piano trios from a Czech ensembleMusicians: Petrof Piano TrioComposer: Lalo, Bruch, MendelssohnCellist Kamil Žvak gets several opportunities to demonstrate his gentle, lyrical skills in Lalo’s C minor Trio, opening the first and last movements with understated ...
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ReviewSonata–Monologue. Khachaturian: Violin Sonata, Sonata–Monologue, Dance, Song–Poem ‘In Honour of an Ashugh, Nocturne & Waltz from Masquerade, Dance of the Rose Maidens, Nuneh Variation & Sabre Dance fr
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: An exploration of a neglected side to an orchestral masterMusicians: Masayuki Kino (violin) Mami Shikimori (piano)Composer: KhachaturianKhachaturian’s popular reputation is based almost entirely on his highly colourful and exuberant concertos and ballet scores. Admittedly, included here are skilful transcriptions of a nocturne ...
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ReviewHindemith: Viola Sonatas op.11 no.4, op.25 no.1 & ‘1939’, Capriccio op.8 no.1 (arr. Gandelsman)
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A generally successful survey of Hindemith’s viola musicMusicians: Yuri Gandelsman (viola) Ralph Votapek (piano)Composer: HindemithThe Uzbek violist Yuri Gandelsman studied with Genrikh Talalyan (and is therefore a grand-student of the great Vadim Borisovsky). After stints as principal of the Israel Philharmonic and ...
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ReviewLeaning Toward the Fiddler
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: An effective marriage of singing and violin playingMusicians: Hope Wechkin (violin/voice)Composer: Trad.It’s hard to label Hope Wechkin either as a fiddler who sings, or as a vocalist who can accompany herself on violin, as on this evidence, neither skill deserves secondary billing. ...
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Review
Modular Living By Design
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A rare jazz trio with a cello to the foreMusicians: Will Martinu (cello) Jason Lindner (piano/Rhodes) Richie Barshay (drums/percussion)Composer: Will MartinuAustralian-born New York resident Will Martinu returns with the trio that released The Dam Levels (reviewed February 2012). The rock and hip-hop influences shared ...
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ReviewMystery Variations on Giuseppe Colombi’s Chiacona
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A celebratory work that provides multiple responses to solo cello writingMusicians: Anssi Karttunen (cello)Composer: Various composersIn this composite work written to celebrate the 50th birthday in 2010 of Anssi Karttunen, 30 composers have each contributed a variation on the Chiacona by Giuseppe ...
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ReviewCorelli: Violin Sonatas op.5
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Colours abound in idiomatic performances of CorelliMusicians: Avison Ensemble: Pavlo Beznosiuk (violin) Richard Tunnicliffe (cello) Paula Chateauneuf (archlute/guitar) Roger Hamilton (harpsichord/organ)Composer: CorelliIn this second volume of the Avison Ensemble’s project to record Corelli’s complete chamber music, Pavlo Beznosiuk and his colleagues treat ...
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ReviewIn the South
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Southern heat becomes tangible in this well-considered collectionMusicians: Brodsky QuartetComposer: Verdi, Paganini (arr. Cassidy), Wolf, Puccini, Piazzolla & TurinaIt’s hard not to be seduced by this selection of pieces suggestive of Italy (and easy to forgive the interloping pieces by Turina and ...
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ReviewBrahms: Violin Sonata no.1 in G major op.78. R. Schumann: Violin Sonata no.1 in A minor op.105. C. Schumann: Three Romances op.22
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Perceptively free-ranging performances of Romantic classicsMusicians: Jennifer Pike (violin) Tom Poster (piano)Composer: Brahms, R. Schumann, C. SchumannIt was said that Robert Schumann composed the first of his two violin sonatas in just four days, and it is that white-heat-of-the-moment feeling that is ...
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ReviewShostakovich: String Quartet no.3 in F major op.73. Beethoven: String Quartet in E minor op.59 no.2 ‘Rasumovsky’
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A triumphant coupling of two complementary quartets from different centuriesMusicians: Valentin Berlinsky QuartetComposer: Shostakovich, BeethovenThe Valentin Berlinsky Quartet, named after the founding cellist of the legendary Borodin Quartet, goes from strength to strength with a beautifully engineered coupling that finds ...
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ReviewHidden Treasure
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A generous, wide-ranging viola collection from an eloquent playerMusicians: Rivka Golani (viola) Michael Hampton (piano)Composer: Rubinstein, Vieuxtemps, Enescu, Bowen, Mendelssohn, Pártos & ZimbalistThis well-recorded pair of CDs is a wonderful testimony to Rivka Golani’s passionate musicianship. Additionally, it presents a ...
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ReviewSublime Discourses. Milton/Peerson: Complete instrumental music
The Strad Issue: Febraury 2012Description: Domestic-scaled performances of some little-known English consort musicMusicians: Fretwork, Michael Chance (countertenor) Sophie Yates (virginals)Composer: Milton/PeersonViol consort music was big business in early 17th-century England. Fretwork’s latest disc features two of the multitude of composers who turned their hand to it: John ...
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ReviewDuos for Viola and Violoncello. Works by Rolla, Lutoslawski, Kirchner, Milone, Clarke, Hindemith & Beethoven
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: A brave survey of music for a rare instrumental combinationMusicians: Katrin Melcher (viola) MartinuOstertag (cello)Composer: Rolla, Lutoslawski, Kirchner, Milone, Clarke, Hindemith & BeethovenThe rich timbral combination of viola and cello sadly boasts pretty limited repertoire and inevitably the quality of compositions becomes ...
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ReviewEnglish music for viola and piano. Bainton: Viola Sonata. Holland: Suite in D major. Bowen: Piece for viola. Bantock: Viola Sonata in F major ‘Colleen’
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: A highly welcome exploration of little-known English viola repertoireMusicians: Sarah-Jane Bradley (viola) Christian Wilson (piano)Composer: Bainton, Holland, Bowen, BantockThis latest instalment in Naxos’s review of English viola music is particularly succulent, including as it does Granville Bantock’s monumental ‘Colleen’ Sonata. Christian Wilson’s ...
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ReviewOutside. Sciarrino: Six Caprices. Ravel: Violin Sonata in G major (first movement). Zinovieff/Orazbayeva: Five Bagatelles from OUR. Salvador/Tsepin: Pchela i babachka. Lachenmann/Orazbayeva: Toccatina
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Mystifying recording decisions detract from some enjoyable playingMusicians: Aisha Orazbayeva (violin/voice) Matthew Schellhorn (piano) Peter Zinovieff (electronics)Composer: Sciarrino, Ravel, Zinovieff/Orazbayeva, Salvador/Tsepin, Lachenmann/OrazbayevaYoung Kazakh-born violinist Aisha Orazbayeva’s debut CD is a hugely adventurous offering, with a rich mix of uncompromising contemporary music, electronics, ...
