All Reviews articles – Page 187
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ArticleLigeti: String Quartets no.1 ‘Métamorphoses nocturnes’ & no.2, Andante and Allegretto
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Parker QuartetComposer: LigetiThis enterprising disc brings together Ligeti’s complete music for string quartet in committed performances by the young players of the Parker Quartet, New England Conservatory-trained and currently ensemble in residence with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra.The First Quartet (1953–4), while ...
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ArticleA German Bouquet. Works by Schop, Schmelzer, Muffat, Krieger, Buxtehude, Bach, Erlebach & Pisendel
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Trio Settecento Composer: Schop, Schmelzer, Muffat, Krieger, Buxtehude, Bach, Erlebach & PisendelTrio Settecento’s accounts of the four trio sonatas in this programme of German Baroque music suffer from problems of balance, John Mark Rozendaal’s gamba occasionally seeming too distant in several passages ...
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ArticleConcerto italiano. Dall'Oglio: Violin Concerto in C major. Stratico: Violin Concerto in G minor. Nardini: Violin Concerto in G major. Lolli: Violin Concerto in C major
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Giuliano Carmignola (violin) Venice Baroque Orchestra/Andrea MarconComposer: Dall'Oglio, Stratico, Nardini, LolliHere we have four Italian composers from the middle of the 18th century whose names have long dropped from the repertoire, but who, in their lifetime, thrilled audiences throughout Europe with prodigious ...
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ArticleChuck and Albert: Énergie
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Albert Arsenault (fiddle, bass, vocals, percussion) Chuck Arsenault (guitar, harmonica, spoons, vocals)Composer: TradThis collection of songs from Acadie (a region of French-speaking Canada) is drawn from Chuck and Albert’s live show of slapstick comedy and quirky folk music, including the traditional Acadian ...
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ArticleBach: Goldberg Variations BWV988 (arr. Giuranna)
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Trio BrozComposer: Bach (arr. Giuranna)This lovely, eminently listenable live recording serves to introduce an outstanding young Italian string trio consisting of the siblings Barbara, Giada and Klaus Broz. In their naturalness, unobtrusive virtuosity and close ensemble they remind me of ...
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ArticleSchubert: Duo in A major D574 (arr. Wispelwey), Sonata in A minor D821 ‘Arpeggione’, Fantasy in C major D934 (arr. Wispelwey)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Pieter Wispelwey (cello) Paolo Giacometti (fortepiano)Composer: SchubertIs period instrumentation a marketing ploy, and how far does it become an integral part of the whole interpretation? For the first few bars of this recording I missed the velvety hues of the modern piano ...
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ArticleHofmann: Cello Concerto in D major HAYDN Cello Concerto in C major. Mozart: Flute Concerto in D major K314 (arr. Szell/Ciomei)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Basel Chamber Orchestra/Sergio CiomeiComposer: Hofmann, MozartLeopold Hofmann can justly stand alongside his two illustrious contemporaries here. His interpreters are first-rate: the orchestra’s delicate ritornellos, Sol Gabetta’s pure tone and graceful good taste never straying outside the music’s expressive limits ...
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ArticleEnglish Music for Viola. Bliss: Viola Sonata Delius Violin Sonata no.3 (arr. Tertis). Bridge: Pieces for viola and piano
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Enik? Magyar (viola) Tadashi Imai (piano)Composer: Bliss, BridgeMy initial amazement that a violist with such an echt-Hungarian name should be playing this arch-English repertoire, and in such an idiomatic and convincing way to boot, vanished after reading her biography: upon graduating in ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Concerto no.3 in G major K216*. Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77†
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Gioconda De Vito (violin) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Thomas Beecham*, German Opera House Orchestra/Paul van Kempen† Composer: Mozart, BrahmsGioconda De Vito, one of the finest violinists to emerge from Italy in the 20th century (a span her life almost exactly matched), made ...
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ArticleShostakovich: String Quartet no.4 in D major op.83 (arr. Lieberman). Brahms: String Quartet no.2 in A minor op. 51 (arr. Lieberman). Dvorák: Adagio from String Quartet in D minor op.34 (arr. Lieberman
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: American String ProjectComposer: Shostakovich, Brahms, Dvorák:It was Barry Lieberman’s irritation that his double bass was so little used in chamber music that prompted him to add his own part to well-known quartets and quintets. From those modest beginnings has grown a series ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Concerto in D major op.61*. Britten: Violin Concerto op.15†
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Janine Jansen (violin) Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen*, London Symphony Orchestra† /Paavo JärviComposer: Beethoven, Britten In recent months we’ve had Beethoven concertos both traditional (Capuçon on Virgin Classics) and period-informed (Kopatchinskaja on Naive): here the two come together. Janine Jansen’s melodious, ...
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ArticleHaydn: String Quartets vol.2: Quartets op.50 no.1 in B flat major, no.4 in F sharp minor & no.5 in F major
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Leipzig QuartetComposer: HaydnThe Leipzig Quartet and its record company seem intent on covering every corner of the repertoire. But like every other disc of this ensemble that has come my way, this second volume of a Haydn cycle rarely rises above a ...
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ArticleLeclair: Violin Sonatas Book 1 nos.9–12
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Adrian Butterfield (Baroque violin) Alison McGillivray (viola da gamba) Laurence Cummings (harpsichord) Composer: Leclair Adrian Butterfield, Alison McGillivray and Laurence Cummings bring sure technical command, sound stylistic sense and uncomplicated, utterly instinctive musicianship to these accounts, which conclude their project on Leclair’s ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: Piano Trios no.1 in D minor op.49 & no.2 in C minor op.66
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Eggner TrioComposer: Mendelssohn Recording performances live does not guarantee a spontaneous result, in fact I sometimes wonder if it militates against one. The young Eggner Trio – the brothers Christoph (piano), Georg (violin) and Florian (cello) – clearly know the ...
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ArticleAndrae: String Quartets no.1 in B flat major op.9 & no.2 in E major op.33, Quartet for flute and strings op.43
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Lochrian Ensemble of LondonComposer: Andrae The most profound problem facing any young composer emerging at the beginning of the 20th century was developing a personal voice during a period of constant flux. A number of composers hit upon a fluid ...
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ArticlePaganini: Violin Concertos no.1 in D major op.6 & no.2 in B minor op.7. Rossini: Matilde di Shabran Overture
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Rudolf Koelman (violin) Netherlands Symphony Orchestra/Jan Willem de VriendComposer: Paganini, RossiniRudolf Koelman, one of Heifetz’s last pupils, provides a very persuasive reading of these two well-loved works, while a suitably rumbustious reading of Rossini’s Matilde di Shabran Overture fills this engaging CD.It ...
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ArticleProkofiev: Violin Sonatas no.1 in F minor & no.2 in A major op.94, Five Melodies op.35b
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Vadim Tchijik (violin) David Bismuth (piano)Composer: ProkofievEven in such distinguished company as Itzhak Perlman (RCA) and Schlomo Mintz (DG), Erik Schumann’s 2008 coupling of Prokofiev’s two violin sonatas struck me as especially beguiling, particularly in the First Sonata’s feroce second movement and ...
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ArticleDevil's Trills. Music by Kreisler, Sarasate, Schubert, Tartini, Tchaikovsky, Vitali & Wieniawski
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Nemanja Radulović, Guillaume Fontanarosa, Frédéric Dessus (violin) Bertrand Causse (viola) Anne Biragnet (cello) Stanislas Kuchinski (double bass)Composer: Kreisler, Sarasate, Schubert, Tartini, Tchaikovsky, Vitali & Wieniawski There is a desperately fine yet crucial line between on the one hand finding ...
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ArticlePaganini: Sonata concertata in A major, Cantabile in D major, Tarantella in A minor, Sonatas in A minor, D major, A major & E minor
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Pekka Kuusisto (violin) Ismo Eskelinen (guitar)Composer: PaganiniI had never heard these Paganini duos for violin and guitar before, and it came as a surprise to me to read that the composer himself was a fine guitarist. These works are relatively light on ...
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ArticleOlivero: Neharót Neharót. Mansurian: Tagh for the Funeral of the Lord, Three Arias (Sung out the window facing Mount Ararat). Komitas: Oror. Steinberg: Rava Deravin
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Kim Kashkashian (viola) Robyn Schulkovsky (percussion) Tigran Mansurian (piano) Kuss Quartet, Munich Chamber Orchestra/Alexander Liebreich, Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil RoseComposer: Olivero, Mansurian, Komitas, SteinbergThis new disc from the American-born violist Kim Kashkashian combines music reflecting her Armenian cultural heritage with two major ...
