All Reviews articles – Page 186
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ArticleHartmann: String Quartets no.1 (Carillon) & no.2, Little Concerto for string quartet and percussion, Chamber Concerto for clarinet, string quartet and string orchestra; plus interviews
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Doelen Quartet, Arjan Woudenberg (clarinet) Wilbert Grootenboer (percussion) Sinfonia Rotterdam/Conrad van AlphenComposer: HartmannString enthusiasts are most likely to know Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905–63) for his Concerto funèbre (1939) for violin and strings, a key work of the Munich-based composer’s self-imposed internal exile ...
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ArticleLe Maître et L’Élève. Bach: Cello Suite no 5 in C minor. Offenbach: Duo Lettre F: Suite no.1 in G minor for two cellos. Popper: Virtuoso pieces
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Raphaël Pidoux, Bruno Philippe (cellos) Elodie Soulard (accordion)Composer: Bach, Offenbach, PopperAs the title suggests, two young players each accompany Raphaël Pidoux, in keeping with the pedagogical concept behind the Offenbach Suite. Bruno Philippe is the partner in this work, the last in ...
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ArticleProkofiev: String Quartets nos.1 & 2, Sonata for two violins op.56
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Pavel Haas QuartetComposer: Prokofiev Considering their high quality, it is surprising how relatively few couplings of Prokofiev’s two string quartets have emerged on disc. If neo-Classical precision is a priority the Emerson Quartet (available as a download ...
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ArticleKhachaturian: Violin Concerto in D minor, Concerto–Rhapsody in B flat minor
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Nicolas Koeckert (violin), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/José SerebrierComposer: KhachaturianThough Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto remains on the fringes of the concert repertoire, it has fared well both in the quantity and quality of its recordings. This latest one comes from the German–Brazilian violinist Nicolas Koeckert, ...
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ArticleThe Cello’s Russian Voice. Glinka/Tchaikovsky/Rachmaninoff: Arrangements of songs
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Dmitry Ferschtman (cello), Mila Baslawskaja (piano)Composer: Glinka, Tchaikovsky, RachmaninoffIt’s not often that a CD booklet is as lavishly presented as this one, featuring colour reproductions of landscapes and portraits by Levitan, Zhukovsky and Repin in the booklet alongside the poetry of Tolstoy, ...
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ArticleChopin: Cello Sonata in G minor op.65, Piano Trio in G minor op.8, Grand Duo on themes from Meyerbeer’s ‘Robert le diable’
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Vilde Frang (violin), Andreas Brantelid (cello), Marianna Shirinyan (piano)Composer: Chopin For his second disc with EMI, rising Danish cello star Andreas Brantelid offers a convincing interpretation of Chopin’s Cello Sonata with Marianna Shirinyan. In the first movement he focuses on the music’s ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: Piano Trios in D minor op.49 & C minor op.66
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Trio Jean PaulComposer: MendelssohnThese excellent West German Radio recordings, by an established German group, come very close to the truth of Mendelssohn’s trios as I understand it. Unlike the performances by the Eggner Trio from Austria, which I reviewed last month, they ...
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ArticleBartók: 44 Duos for two violins
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Angela Chun, Jennifer Chun (violin)Composer: BartókConsidering the dazzling range of techniques and effects unleashed by Bartók elsewhere in his violin writing, the 44 Duos remain steadfastly true to their intentions as elementary teaching material. Pizzicato is employed sparingly, while double-stopping ...
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ArticleHill: String Quartets vol.3: no.5 in E flat major (‘The Allies’), no.7 in A major & no.9 in A minor
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Dominion QuartetComposer: HillThis disc marks roughly the halfway point in Naxos’s ambitious project to record all 17 quartets by the prolific Australian composer Alfred Hill (1869–1960), who spent his formative years in New Zealand. It features three works composed between 1920 and ...
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ArticleJohann, I’m Only Dancing. Bach: Arrangements of Brandenburg Concerto no.3, Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565, etc
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Red PriestComposer: BachWith its highly personalised style of stage presentation, Red Priest aims to introduce the Baroque to audiences that would normally dismiss ‘old-fashioned’ music. Such commercialisation has polarised opinions, and this disc, devoted to the music of Bach, will ...
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ArticleRode: 24 Caprices for solo violin
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Axel Strauss (violin)Composer: RodePaganini’s Caprices have long been seen as concert pieces, but Pierre Rode’s earlier set is still best known today as study material. This is not entirely fair. Admittedly, some of Rode’s pieces – such as no.14 with its emotional ...
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ArticleStillness: Improvisations 2008
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Sixth Sense: Stephen Nachmanovitch (violin), Stephanie Phillips (viola, voice), Karlton Hester (flute, saxophone, synthesizer)Composer: VariousCollective improv trio Sixth Sense may be an occasional ensemble, but the players’ mutual understanding is finely tuned, resulting in an expressive spontaneity that survives the odd longueur.Most ...
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ArticleRachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor op.19 (transcr. Mikhailovsky), Romance in A minor op.posth., miniatures transcr. Mikhailovsky, Kreisler, Heifetz, Press & Dushkin
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Hideko Udagawa (violin), Konstantin Lifschitz (piano)Composer: RachmaninoffViolinist Hideko Udagawa brings together a fine clutch of Rachmaninoff transcriptions – by Heifetz and Kreisler, among others – as well as the composer’s original Romance in A minor. Viktor Mikhailovsky’s new transcription of ...
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ArticleKrenek: Symphonic Elegy op.105, Seven Easy Pieces op.146, Adagio and Fugue, Five Short Pieces for Strings op.116, Symphonic Piece op.86, Brazilian Sinfonietta op.131
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ernst Kovacic, Leopoldinum OrchestraComposer: KrenekErnst Krenek (1900–91) was one of the most prolific composers of the last century, with opus numbers stretching well into the 200s. He is best known for his jazzy opera Johnny spielt auf, but elsewhere his music is ...
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ArticleDebussy: String Quartet in G minor op.10. Ravel: String Quartet in F major, Violin Sonata in G major
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Dante Quartet, Krysia Osostowicz (violin), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano)Composer: Debussy, RavelString playing changed radically in the decade between the Debussy and Ravel quartets and the Dante Quartet is unusual in perceiving the difference. What a shame that the recordings, by a team new ...
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ArticleSibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor op.47, Humoresques nos.1, 2 & 5. Prokofiev: Violin Concerto no.1 in D major op.19
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Vilde Frang (violin) WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne/Thomas SøndergŠrdComposer: Sibelius,Prokofiev Even bearing in mind such timeless accounts of the Sibelius as those by Jascha Heifetz (RCA), Isaac Stern (Sony) and Christian Ferras (EMI DVD), Vilde Frang is just that extra ...
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ArticleFauré: Piano Quartets no.1 in C minor op.15 & no.2 in G minor op.55
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Trio Wanderer, Antoine Tamestit (viola)Composer: FauréThe very word ‘Wanderer’ exudes German Romanticism and would lead one to expect the trio’s members to be most at home in Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann (which of course they are). On the present CD, ...
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ArticleGade: Violin Sonatas nos.1–3
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Hasse Borup (violin), Heather Conner (piano)Composer: GadeViolinist Hasse Borup follows hot on the heels of Thomas Albertus Imberger (Gramola, reviewed in January) with a survey of sonatas by Niels Wilhelm Gade. The Danish composer succeeded Mendelssohn as music director of the Leipzig ...
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ArticleHaydn: String Quartet in G major op.77 no.1, Dvorák: String Quartet in G major op.106
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: St Lawrence QuartetComposer: Haydn, Dvorák Two magnificent late quartets in G major by two great composers raise the expectations; but sadly, a lot of water has flowed down the St Lawrence since the eponymous ensemble began its career, and I fear a ...
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ArticleHaydn: String Quartets in A major op.9 no.6. D major op.50 no.6 & C major op.74 no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Schuppanzigh QuartetComposer: HaydnThis stimulating first volume of the Schuppanzigh Quartet’s projected three-part Haydn anthology showcases period-instrument chamber playing of the highest calibre. With Anton Steck at the helm, these performers communicate directly and powerfully and imbue their interpretations with imaginative phrasing, subtly ...
