All Reviews articles – Page 192
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ArticleSchubert: Quartettsatz in C minor D703. Mozart: String Quartet in C major K465 ‘Dissonance’. Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E minor op.44 no.2, Andante espressivo from String Quartet in D major op.44
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Elias QuartetComposer: Schubert, Mozart, MendelssohnHaving recently left the Sheffield-based Ensemble 360, the members of the Elias have given themselves the freedom to forge a career as one of the most compelling of the UK’s many young string quartets. Here, caught on the ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Sonatas no.1 in G major op.78, no.2 in A major op.100 & no.3 in D minor op.108, Scherzo in C minor from ‘F.A.E.’ Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Simon Fischer (violin) Raymond Fischer (piano) Composer: BrahmsWell known to readers of The Strad for his regular column on the technique of violin playing, Simon Fischer has been performing the Brahms sonata cycle in concert for over 25 years, though ...
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ArticleSmetana: String Quartet no.1 in E minor ‘From My Life’. Sibelius: String Quartet in D minor op.56 ‘Voces intimae’, Andante festivo
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Kocian QuartetComposer: Smetana, SibeliusWhen I was a lad, people still talked about how Oskar Nedbal played the viola in Smetana’s E minor Quartet. Nowadays we take it for granted that the opening salvos will be thrilling and tonally refulgent. Even ...
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ArticleHubay: Violin Concertos no.1 in A minor op.21 ‘Concerto dramatique’ & no.2 in E major op.90, Scènes de la Csárda nos.3 & 4
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Chloë Hanslip (violin) Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Andrew MogreliaComposer: Hubay The explosive virtuosity of these two concertos by Hungarian violinist and composer Hubay are underpinned by beautifully coloured orchestral writing. Chloë Hanslip is on sparkling form, bringing to bear ...
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ArticleMartinu: Cello Concerto no.1. Foerster: Cello Concerto op.143 j. Novák: Capriccio for cello and small orchestra
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Ji?í Bárta (cello) Prague Philharmonia/Jakub Hr?šaComposer: Martinu, Foerster, NovákApart from three sensational performances, the heroes here are Supraphon’s superb engineers: listen to how in the Foerster the soloist, accompanying solo strings and woodwind snippets are separately miked, so as to produce gossamer-like ...
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ArticleBrahms: String Quintets in F major op.88 & G major op.111
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nash Ensemble Composer: BrahmsBrahms was pleased with his F major Quintet and Daniel Gregory Mason enthuses about it in his book on the composer’s chamber music; but in my experience, it takes a really special performance to bring it off. ...
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ArticleSculthorpe: String Quartets vol.3: nos.14–17
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Goldner QuartetComposer: Sculthorpe The third volume of the Goldner Quartet’s traversal of pre-eminent Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s complete music for string quartet brings things right up to date, with four works from the last eleven years (two more quartets ...
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Article18 Piano Trios Dedicated to Haydn. Works by Krammer, Woolrich, Xiaogang Ye, Doderer, Ndodana-Breen, Sánchez-Verdú, Bolcom, Everhartz, Kakinuma, Fontyn, Hödl, Illés, Schifrin, Schnebel, Schedlberger, K
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Haydn Trio EisenstadtComposer: Krammer, Woolrich, Xiaogang Ye, Doderer, Ndodana-Breen, Sánchez-Verdú, Bolcom, Everhartz, Kakinuma, Fontyn, Hödl, Illés, Schifrin, Schnebel, Schedlberger, Kats-Chernin, Jolas & HarnikTo mark this year’s bicentenary of Haydn’s death, the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt commissioned 18 composers to write a piano trio ...
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ArticleRomantic Violin Concertos. Gade: Violin Concerto in D minor op.56. Lange-Müller: Violin Concerto in C major op.69. Langgaard: Violin Concerto
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Christina Šstrand (violin) Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra/John StorgŠrdsComposer: Gade, Lange-Müller, Langgaard The rather generic nature of these three Danish violin concertos helps to remind us just how individual Carl Nielsen was as a composer in the context of his nation’s music and ...
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ArticleCafé Fiddle. Music by Falla, Elgar, Debussy, Kreisler, Paradies, Moszkowski, Albéniz, Rachmaninoff, Sarasate & Gershwin
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Ben Breen (violin) Milton Kaye (piano)Composer: Falla, Elgar, Debussy, Kreisler, Paradies, Moszkowski, Albéniz, Rachmaninoff, Sarasate & GershwinRecorded in 2006 shortly before Milton Kaye’s death at the ripe old age of 97 – not that you’d know it from the golden-toned, youthfully responsive ...
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ArticleAlfano: Concerto for violin, cello & piano, Cello Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Elmira Darvarova (violin) Samuel Magill (cello) Scott Dunn (piano)Composer: Alfano Franco Alfano (1875–1954) composed a large number of piano and orchestral pieces, several operas (including a Cyrano de Bergerac) and a number of major chamber works, including three string quartets. ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Complete Sonatas for Piano and Violin
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Isabelle Faust (violin) Alexander Melnikov (piano)Composer: BeethovenAll the elements of this cycle are in place from the performance of the first movement of the first sonata op.12 no.1: a drive through to the end, within which the dwelling on a ...
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ArticleChants D’Est. Works by Rachmaninoff, Dohnányi, Tcherepnin, Krawczyk, Prokofiev, Martinu, Mahler & Trad. Jewish
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Sonia Wieder-Atherton (cello) Sinfonia Varsovia/Christophe Mangou Composer: Rachmaninoff, Dohnányi, Tcherepnin, Krawczyk, Prokofiev, Martinu, Mahler & Trad. JewishFor her latest disc, Sonia Wieder-Atherton has devised an inspired and original musical journey through the Slavic lands. The more folk-orientated items ...
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ArticleFantasie. Works by Sarasate, Vaughan Williams, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Ravel, Pärt, Rachmaninoff & Fauré
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nicola Benedetti (violin) Alexei Grynyuk (piano) Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew LittonComposer: Sarasate, Vaughan Williams, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Ravel, Pärt, Rachmaninoff & FauréThis recital by the young Nicola Benedetti, stemming from several sessions with various accompanists, is notable for one ...
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ArticleThe Voices that are Gone: The Music of Stephen Foster
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Matt Turner (cello) Peg Carrothers (voice) Bill Carrothers (piano) Composer: Stephen Foster Improvising cellist Matt Turner leads this poignant tribute to 19th-century songwriter Stephen Foster, the ‘father of American music’ and composer of tunes such as Camptown Races and My ...
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ArticleKreisler: Violin miniatures: original works and arrangements
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Carlos Damas (violin) Anna Tomasik (piano) Composer: KreislerIf Kreisler’s status as one of the master violinists of the last century is beyond question, his creative talent is still largely undervalued because his forte was as an exquisite miniaturist. Kreisler’s ability to ...
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ArticleBrahms: String Quartet in C minor op.51 no.1, Piano Quintet in F minor op.34
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Ébène Quartet, Akiko Yamamoto (piano)Composer: BrahmsThe Ébène Quartet offers the most highly energised and powerful opening movement to Brahms’s first quartet that I have yet encountered. The players bring turbulence to the climatic moments and a tangy quality in the ...
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ArticleRussian Violin Sonatas. Prokofiev: Violin Sonata no.1 in F minor op.80. Shostakovich: Violin Sonata in G major op.134
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Michael Dinnebier (violin) Angela-Charlott Bieber (piano)Composer: Prokofiev, ShostakovichA product of the War years when Stalin’s henchmen were generally more tolerant of less than optimistic musical statements, Prokofiev’s First Violin Sonata just got under the wire before the post-war crackdown. Both Isaac Stern ...
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ArticleSchumann: Violin Sonatas no.1 in A minor op.105 & no.2 in D minor op.121, Four song transcriptions
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Linus Roth (violin) José Gallardo (piano) Composer: SchumannGerman violinist and Argentine pianist are an established duo and their rapport is evident in the dramatic D minor Sonata, which starts their programme. The opening chords are almost too abrupt, but Linus Roth ...
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ArticleScotland’s Fiddle Piobaireachd vol.1
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Bonnie Rideout (fiddle/viola) Allan MacDonald (Highland bagpipes/voice) Simon O’Dwyer (Bronze Age horns) William Jackson (clarsach) Chris Norman (flute)Composer: TradThis challenging, fascinating disc takes the listener deep into the world of the piobaireachd, the classical music of the Scottish Highlands. Bonnie ...
