All Reviews articles – Page 187
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ArticlePeacocks/Pink Monsters
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Judgement Day: Anton Patzner (violin) Lewis Patzner (cello) John Bush (drums)Composer: Various Don’t be beguiled by the artsy cardboard-picture-book CD case: there’s nothing wholemeal here. This is thrashy, high-voltage ‘string metal’, music feasting on E-numbers and electricity with a result ...
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ArticleStrewn With Ribbons
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Lauren MacColl (fiddle) Chris Stout (viola) Su-a Lee (cello) Barry Reid (guitar) Mhairi Hall (piano) Composer: VariousInstrumentalist of the year at the 2009 Scots Trad Music Awards, Lauren MacColl has turned out a?remarkably assured second album. The title comes from a prophecy ...
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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 ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 ...
