All Reviews articles – Page 185
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ArticleReal Vocal String Quartet
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Real Vocal String QuartetComposer: VariousRVSQ presents originals and arrangements from various world folk traditions, its four members combining string playing and singing in an imaginative and charming way.Right from the opening moments, the articulation of the violin pizzicato and viola tune transport ...
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ArticleLang: Lyoba Revisited
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Daniel Pezzotti, Andi Plattner, Daniel Schaerer, Ambrosius Huber (cellos) Heiri Känzig (double bass) Mathieu Michel (flugelhorn) Thierry Lang (piano) Composer: LangThierry Lang’s ‘chamber jazz’ reinterpretations of melodies from his native western Switzerland combine cello quartet and jazz trio. While the framework ...
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ArticleRebel: Les éléments. Vivaldi: Le quattro stagione
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Midori Seiler (violin) Akademie für Alte Musik BerlinComposer: Rebel, VivaldiIt is fashionable now to emphasise the pictorial elements of The Four Seasons, which is fair enough up to a point: Vivaldi is quite clear about the chattering teeth and hailstorms. But these ...
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ArticleConversations for violin and piano. Rosing-Schow: E Rigidis. Nørgård: Fragment V, Diptychon. Ruders: Three Tiny Pieces for Great Friends, Bel Canto. Nordentoft: Two Movements. Koppel: Ternio
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider (violin) Ulrich Staerk (piano)Composer: Rosing-Schow, Nørgård, Ruders, Nordentoft, KoppelElisabeth Zeuthen Schneider presents an interesting trawl of works from Danish composers after the Second World War, including some earlyish Per Nørgård and recent pieces by Poul Ruders.I found the order ...
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ArticleL’Art du Violon Seul dans L’Allemagne Baroque. Works by Bach, Biber, Pisendel & Westhoff
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Mira Glodeanu (Baroque violin)Composer: Bach, Biber, Pisendel & Westhoff There is a remarkable intimacy and adventurousness about Mira Glodeanu’s account of Bach’s First Sonata (BWV1001). She possesses a clean, substantially accurate left-hand technique and largely conveys voice-leading clearly and intelligently. Particularly ...
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ArticleBach: Cello Suites (complete)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Joseph Elworthy (cello)Composer: Bach Casals used to allude to the ever-changing face of the Bach suites, making the idea of committing one single view of these works to a recording a somewhat daunting process. Canadian cellist Joseph Elworthy, however, presents ...
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ArticlePágina Esquecida. Portuguese music for cello and piano: works by Lopes-Graça, Almeida, Fernandes, Freitas, Braga Santos, Branco, Peixinho, Costa & Carneyro
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Bruno Borralhinho (cello) Luisa Tender (piano)Composer: Lopes-Graça, Almeida, Fernandes, Freitas, Braga Santos, Branco, Peixinho, Costa & CarneyroThis compilation’s title, ‘Forgotten Page’, refers here to Portuguese cello music of the last century, but could just as well be used for Portuguese music as ...
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ArticleStrings and Isobars. Waxman: Carmen Fantasy. MacMillan: After the Tryst, Knock on Wood. Copland: Violin Sonata. Russell Bennett: A Song Sonata. Bolcom: Sonatina
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Yuko Uchiyama (violin) Dina Vainshtein (piano)Composer: Waxman, MacMillan, Copland, Russell Bennett, BolcomThis disc’s label – University of Hertfordshire Recordings – didn’t initially promise much, so I was very pleasantly surprised by its content. Yuko Uchiyama, soloist and also a member of the ...
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ArticleElgar: Violin Concerto in B minor op.61
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Nikolaj Znaider (violin) Staatskapelle Dresden/Colin Davis Composer: ElgarThere is a certain pedigree to this recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto. Nikolaj Znaider plays the Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ instrument of 1741 on which Kreisler, the work’s dedicatee, gave ...
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ArticleFantasy. Messiaen: La mort du nombre, Thème et variations, Fantaisie. Schoenberg: Phantasy op.47. Schubert: Fantasie D934, Si emir gegrüsst! D741
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Kaori Yamada (violin) Sholto Kynoch (piano) Rhona McKail (soprano) Nicky Spence (tenor)Composer: Messiaen, Schoenberg, Schubert Based around the idea of musical fantasy, this ingenious programme offsets the music of one of France’s most inspired and overtly sensual ‘fantasists’ against the heightened ...
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ArticleOnslow: Piano Quintet op.70, Quintet ‘de la Balle’ op.38
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ensemble Monsolo, François-Joël Thiollier (piano) Composer: OnslowMany of Onslow’s 34 string quintets allow for an instrumentarium of flexible constitution. Ensemble Monsolo performs his semi-programmatic op.38, subtitled ‘The Bullet’, in the version for string quartet and double bass. These players convey the drama ...
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ArticleKodály: Sonata for solo cello op.8. Roxburgh: Partita for solo cello. Britten: Suite no.3 for solo cello op.87
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: James Barralet (cello) Composer: Kodály, Roxburgh, BrittenIn 2007 British cellist James Barralet won the Landor Records Competition; this debut disc is the result. Kodály’s Sonata opens it in arresting fashion. Barralet, who studied with Demenga at the Musikhochschule Basel, plays with energy ...
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ArticleAdès: Violin Concerto ‘Concentric Paths’ op.24*, Tevot† , Three Studies from Couperin*, Overture, Waltz & Finale from ‘Powder her Face’‡
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Description: Selection disc 1: Musicians: Anthony Marwood (violin) Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Thomas Adès*, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Simon Rattle† , National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain/Paul Daniel‡Composer: AdèsOne of the challenges facing composers over the last century or so ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Complete Violin Sonatas vol.2: Sonatas in A minor op.23 & F major (Spring) op.24, Twelve Variations on ‘Se vuol ballare’ WoO40, Six German Dances WoO42
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Hiro Kurosaki (violin) Linda Nicholson (fortepiano)Composer: Beethoven Period instruments are rarely as precise as the Franz Geissenhof instrument Hiro Kurosaki uses on this recording: it was made in 1801, the year these sonatas were published, and in Vienna, the city ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartet in B flat major op.130, Grosse Fuge in B flat major op.133
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Vertavo QuartetComposer: BeethovenThe all-female Vertavo Quartet from Norway has gained a reputation among the most versatile of ensembles. Its members celebrate their 25th year together with, surprisingly, their very first Beethoven recording.The impact of their playing is very positive: expressive, spontaneous and ...
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ArticleRuehr: String Quartets nos.1, 3 & 4
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: Ruehr It’s a brave move by the San Francisco-based Cypress Quartet to devote its new disc entirely to a contemporary composer, and a little-known name at that. But the music of Elena Ruehr, raised in Michigan and ...
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ArticleScott: Piano Trios nos.1 & 2, Clarinet Quintet, Clarinet Trio, Cornish Boat Song
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Gould Piano Trio, Mia Cooper (violin) David Adams (viola) Robert Plane (clarinet) Composer: ScottThe fact that Cyril Scott (1879–1970) was musically educated in Germany from the age of twelve, and there enjoyed his first success as a major composer, did much to ...
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ArticleTchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence op.70 (transcr. Turovsky), String Quartet no.1 in D op.11 (arr. string orchestra)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: I Musici de Montréal/Yuli Turovsky Composer: TchaikovskyThe tantalisingly balance between Tchaikovsky’s natural propensity for music fired by extra-musical sources and his veneration of the absolute music of the Viennese Classical masters (exemplified by his life-long admiration of Mozart) is everywhere evident here. ...
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ArticleFauré: Piano Quintets no.1 in D minor op. 89 & no.2 in C minor op.115
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Schubert EnsembleComposer: FauréWilliam Howard’s piano opening of Fauré’s First Piano Quintet conjures up water rippling through stones, and it is that fresh and open-air atmosphere that permeates the whole of this performance. It has often been said that the work does not ...
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ArticleFirst Steps. Bruckner: Rondo in C minor. Britten: String Quartet in F major. Puccini: String Quartet in D major. Grieg: Fugue in F minor. Rachmaninoff: String Quartet no.1. Webern: Langsamer Satz. Sch
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ruysdael QuartetComposer: Bruckner, Britten, Puccini, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Webern, SchoenbergUnder the album title ‘First Steps’, the Ruysdael Quartet has created a programme of apprentice pieces to create a quite delightful release. Many of the composers did not continue writing in this genre, but ...
