All Reviews articles – Page 209
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Concerto in D major op.61, Violin Sonata no.7 in C minor op. 30 no.2
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Min-Jin Kym (violin) Ian Brown (piano) Philharmonia Orchestra, Andrew Davis (conductor)Composer: Beethoven Following her critically acclaimed recording of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, Min-Jin Kym offers a strongly lyrical, authoritative account of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. She shapes and unfolds the ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartet in C major op.59 no.3 (Rasumovsky), String Quintet in C major op.29
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Kuijken Two Generations Composer: BeethovenBeethoven in C major? The key may be the same but the works inhabit quite different planes, both effortlessly reached by this amazing dynastic Kuijken group. We have been hearing Sigiswald (violin) and Wieland ...
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ArticleLeclair: Six Sonatas for two violins op.3
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Harmonie UniverselleComposer: Leclair Having established a reputation as an outstanding dancer and violinist in his native France, Jean Marie Leclair spent time during his mature years living in Turin where he extended his violin studies and imbued the ...
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ArticleMozart: String Quartets in D minor K421 ‘Hunt’, in B flat major K458 & in C major K465 ‘Dissonance’
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Pražák QuartetComposer: Mozart Three Mozart masterpieces played by four Czech masters of their craft. It ought to make for plain sailing, and I thoroughly enjoyed these performances. But nowadays we hear an astonishing range of string playing styles ...
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ArticleHonegger: Cello Concerto, Cello Sonata, Sonatina for cello and piano, Sonatina for violin and cello
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Christian Poltéra (cello) Christian Tetzlaff (violin) Kathryn Stott (piano) Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen (conductor) Composer: HoneggerFollowing on from his disc of music by Othmar Schoek, rising Swiss cello star Christian Poltéra turns to the works of another of ...
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ArticleWhirled Chamber Music
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Quartet San FranciscoComposer: Various Having showcased their tango expertise in Látigo (2006), the players of Quartet San Francisco (QSF) continue in a popular vein here, turning their attention to jazz, funk, blues and Bluegrass, while celebrating the centenary of ...
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ArticleRota: Complete music for violin and piano, and for viola and piano
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Marco Fornaciari (violin/viola) Gabriele Baldocci (piano)Composer: Rota Nino Rota (1911–79) is, of course, best known as Federico Fellini’s long-time collaborator in numerous films (La strada, Otto e mezzo and Amarcord among them), but his ‘serious’ pieces span the whole ...
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ArticleHandel: Violin Sonatas
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: London Handel PlayersComposer: Handel The past thirty years have seen many efforts to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the authenticity of Handel’s published violin sonatas. It was a situation created by the original publisher’s misrepresentation of the music he was offering, and compounded ...
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ArticleHaydn: String Quartets in G minor op.20 no.3, in C major op.74 no.1 & in G major op.76 no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Amsterdam Quartet Composer: HaydnThat the players of the Amsterdam Quartet employ gut strings and use period bows is obvious from their highly distinctive tonal quality, and the avoidance of vibrato etches every nuance of their interpretations with total clarity ...
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ArticlePaganini: Violin Concertos nos.1–6
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ingolf Turban (violin) WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, Lior Shambadal (conductor)Composer: PaganiniIn the hands of Ingolf Turban Paganini is not just an artist and virtuoso but an opera composer manqué. He plays many of the melodies as if they have lyrics, and mightily ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartets op.18 nos.1-6
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Tokyo Quartet Composer: BeethovenFew ensembles exceed the high standards of the Tokyo Quartet. Its members here produce a sumptuous, beautifully blended sonority from their matching set of Stradivari instruments and perform with outstanding musical insight, unanimity ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Sonatas in G major op.78, in A major op.100 & in D minor op.108, Scherzo WoO2
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Antje Weithaas (violin) Silke Avenhaus (piano) Composer: BrahmsAntje Weithaas and Silke Avenhaus strike a finely judged balance between rhetoric and lyricism from the very opening of the G major Sonata and subordinate their technical prowess to the music throughout. ...
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ArticleJ.S. Bach: Six Suites for solo cello BWV1007–12
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) Composer: Bach Lightness and elegance are the keywords in these interpretations by French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras. Although he has performed the works on a Baroque cello, he favours a modern set-up here for his ...
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Article
Kraus: Violin Concerto in C major VB151, Olympie (incidental music) VB33, Azire (ballet music) VB18
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Takako Nishizaki (violin) New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Uwe Grodd (conductor)Composer: Kraus The only surviving concertante work of Joseph Kraus (1756–92), the Violin Concerto in C major (1777), is substantial in both length and content. It incorporates moments of ...
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ArticleDvorák: Terzetto in C major op.74, Piano Quartet in E flat major op.87. Beethoven: Piano Quartet in E flat major op.16
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Composer: Dvorák, BeethovenDvo?ák’s Terzetto, for two violins and viola, gives a clue to the strengths if also the limitations of these three readings by the respected Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. Their ...
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ArticleWieniawski: Violin concerto no.2 in D minor. Szymanowski: Violin concerto no.2 op.61. Lutoslawski: Chain 2
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Benjamin Schmid (violin) Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Raiskin (conductor) Composer: Wieniawski, Szymanowski, LutoslawskiBenjamin Schmid is never less than highly impressive in this chronologically arranged programme, featuring three celebrated Polish works for violin. Yet one senses a special identification with ...
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ArticlePaganini:‘Non piu mesto’ from Rossini’s ‘La cenerentola’ (arr. Kreisler), Caprice no.24 in A minor (arr. Kreisler), Variations on ‘God Save the King’, Cantabile (arr. Kinsky & Rothschild), etc
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ning Feng (violin) Thomas Hoppe (piano)Composer: PaganiniBorn in Chengdu, China, Ning Feng enjoyed a string of competition successes while studying variously with Weiman Hu (Sichuan), Hu Kun (London) and Antje Weithaas (Berlin), before winning the 51st Paganini International Completion in 2006. His ...
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ArticleBritten: Cello Sonata, Suite no.3 for solo cello. Shostakovich: Cello Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Karine Georgian (cello) Jeremy Young (piano)Composer: Britten, Shostakovich Karine Georgian is an established cellist and pedagogue who, on the evidence of this release, deserves a wider audience. These three works – all written for her teacher Rostropovich – ...
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ArticleTishchenko: Concerto for Violin, Piano & String Orchestra, Dante-Symphony no.3 ‘Hell: Circles 7–9’
The Strad Issue: Febraury 2008Musicians: Alexander Rozhdestvensky (violin) Viktoria Postnikova (piano) String Orchestra of St Petersburg, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky (conductor)Composer: Tishchenko The main event here is an all-too-painfully illustrative symphony (2001) concerned with the deepest circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno that ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Sonatas in G major K301, in E minor K304, in F major K376 & in B flat major K454
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Aaron Berofsky (violin) Thomas Sauer (piano)Composer: Mozart Aaron Berofsky argues in the CD booklet that Mozart described this group of works as ‘Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin’ out of convention, which didn’t prevent his later scores bringing the two ...
