All Reviews articles – Page 210
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ArticleSchubert: Piano Trios in B flat major D898 & in E flat major D929, Nocturne in E flat major D897, Sonatensatz in B flat major D28
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Trio WandererComposer: Schubert Despite the great scale of these works, there is an intimacy in these performances by the Trio Wanderer. This owes something to the close-up sound, but much more to the constant attention to small detail. ...
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ArticleBrahms: Concerto in A minor for violin & cello. Schumann: Symphony no.4 in D minor
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Guy Braunstein (violin) Alban Gerhardt (cello) Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marek Janowski (conductor)Composer: Brahms, SchumannBoldly depicted from the outset, this interpretation of the Brahms ‘Double’ Concerto has a gravitas and rhythmic incisiveness that adds currency to the already charged and ...
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ArticleSchubert: String Quartet in G major D887, String Trios in B flat major D581 & in B flat major D471
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Pražák Quartet, Beethoven TrioComposer: Schubert Composed in the white heat of creativity in just ten days, the 15th and last of Schubert’s quartets opens with an Allegro that is symphonic in its proportions, and the Pražák Quartet’s trenchant response ...
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ArticleLight. Works by Alakotila, Byron, Childs, Dufallo, Lawson, Rowell, Tristano, Pamela Z & Zarvos
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: EthelComposer: Alakotila, Byron, Childs, Dufallo, Lawson, Rowell, Tristano, Pamela Z & Zarvos Light is New York string quartet Ethel’s keenly awaited second album. If that sounds like a gambit from the pop journalism archive, that’s because Ethel embodies the attitude ...
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ArticleMusic for Strings. Works by Kriwaczek, Cohen, Cuéllar, Musorgsky–Cohen, Arnold–Steptoe & A. & R. Panufnik
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Isis Ensemble, Jacques Cohen (conductor)Composer: Kriwaczek, Cohen, Cuéllar, Musorgsky–Cohen, Arnold–Steptoe & A. & R. Panufnik It is customary to put the encore at the end. On this CD it comes at the beginning, with Rohan Kriwaczek’s Bee Sting Dance in Rohan’s Kitchen, ...
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ArticleMartinu: Concerto de camera, Concerto for violin, piano and orchestra, Czech Rhapsody (arr. Teml)
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Bohuslav Matoušek (violin), Karel Košárek (piano) Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood (conductor) Composer: MartinuBohuslav Matoušek will be no stranger to those who have collected Supraphon’s invaluable series of Martinu’s music for violin and piano. For many years he was the leader of the ...
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ArticleMartin: Cello Concerto, Ballade for cello, Eight Preludes for piano
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Christian Poltéra (cello) Kathryn Stott (Piano) Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen (conductor)Composer: Martinu Frank Martinursquo;s cocktail of melodic atonality is one that is reluctant to reveal its charms straight away. However, repeated hearings of the 1966 Cello Concerto, composed for ...
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ArticleDebussy: Violin Sonata, Cello Sonata, Piano Trio, Rêverie, Clair de lune
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Trio PorticiComposer: Debussy Five works centred round the resources of a piano trio make a highly desirable Debussy programme that is unique in the catalogue. It is played by an exceptionally well-integrated and highly talented Belgian-based ...
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ArticleRespighi: Complete Works for Violin and Piano vol. 2: Nine Arrangements of Italian Baroque Violin Sonatas nos.1–6
Musicians: Ilona Then-Bergh (violin) Michael Schäfer (piano) Composer: RespighiRespighi was both a teenage prodigy, revealing flair in every sphere, and – with Malipiero, Casella and others – influential in the rediscovery of early Italian music that had languished neglected for years, such as Frescobaldi ...
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ArticleBartók: String Quartets nos.1–6
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Belcea QuartetComposer: BartókThe Belcea Quartet has established itself as one of the finest ensembles of its generation. Even so, it is still a young group, founded not much over ten years ago, and these Bartók works constitute one of the most formidable ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77. Joachim: Violin Concerto no.2 in D minor op.11 ‘In the Hungarian Style’
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Christian Tetzlaff (violin) Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard (conductor)Composer: Brahms, JoachimThe continuing rehabilitation of Joachim’s ‘Hungarian’ Concerto is to be welcomed, and the work that Brahms partially based on it is the obvious coupling. Rachel Barton Pine has already ...
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ArticleRhapsody. Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor op.19, Vocalise op.34, Variation no.18 from Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. Prokofiev: Cello Sonata in C major op.119
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Gautier Capuçon (cello) Gabriela Montero (piano)Composer: Rachmaninoff, ProkofievThere’s nothing ground-breaking about this CD featuring heavily recorded repertoire. Excelling, as they do, is therefore all the more impressive. Gabriela Montero already has an enviable reputation as an improviser on the piano, but in ...
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ArticleFitzenhagen: Cello Concerto no.2 in A minor op.4, Elegie op.21, Capriccio op.40, Serenade op.35, Gavotte op.42, Impromptu op.43, Ave Maria op.41, Dämonenfantasie op.34
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Jens Peter Maintz (cello) Paul Rivinius (piano) Munich Radio Orchestra, Peter Rundel (conductor)Composer: Fitzenhagen Coming from an established tradition of virtuoso player–composers, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen joins the likes of Popper, Klengel and Davidov in generating cello-oriented repertoire. His chief notoriety, however, comes from ...
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ArticleDvorák: Piano Trios in B flat major op.21 and in G minor op.26. Suk: Elegy op.23
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Florestan TrioComposer: Dvorák, Suk Dvo?rák’s first two trios are in good hands here. The Florestan Trio has always had the happy knack of both capturing character in an instant and bringing coherence to extended structures. These performances are ...
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ArticleBacri: String Quartets nos.3–6
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Psophos QuartetComposer: Bacri Born in France in 1961, Nicolas Bacri has plowed a lone furrow that has assiduously avoided allegiance to any current group of composers. Moving easily between tonality and atonality, the music is undoubtedly of ...
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ArticleElgar: Piano Quintet in A minor op.84. Walton: Piano Quartet in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterComposer: Elgar, Walton It is all too easy to fall deeply in love with the Elgar Piano Quintet, and this is certainly the case with the chamber group based at New York’s Lincoln ...
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ArticleCapriccioso: Under the Blue Skies. Works by Saint-Saëns, Paganini, Alyabiev, Arensky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Tchaikovsky & Bach (arr. Gounod)
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Alexander Rudin (cello) Jana Ivanilova (soprano) Vladimir Skanavi (piano) Victor Ginsburg (piano) Musica Viva OrchestraComposer: Saint-Saëns, Paganini, Alyabiev, Arensky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Tchaikovsky & Bach (arr. Gounod)If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Alexander Rudin has a phenomenal technique and has chosen works that ...
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ArticleBéton Armé. Xenakis: Euryali, Mikka, Mikka S, Keren, Ikhoor, Dikthas
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Bas Wiegers (violin) Gus Kramers (viola) Saartje van Camp (cello) Nora Mulder (piano) Koen Kaptijn (trombone) Composer: XenakisThis short disc of Xenakis promises more than it delivers. Go to the listed website for the promised ‘detailed programme notes’ ...
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ArticleOpera Fantasies for Violin. Works by Hubay, Raff, Stravinsky/Dushkin, Golijov, Weill/Frenkel, Prutsman, Paganini, Bizet/Loeb & Lalo/Szigeti
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Livia Sohn (violin) Geoff Nuttall (violin/viola) Benjamin Loeb (piano)Composer: Hubay, Raff, Stravinsky/Dushkin, Golijov, Weill/Frenkel, Prutsman, Paganini, Bizet/Loeb & Lalo/SzigetiLivia Sohn, a former graduate of the Juilliard School and pupil of the legendary Felix Galimir, possesses a remarkably lithe and transparent tone of ...
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ArticleSilvestrov: Post-Scriptum, Epitaph (L.B.), Drama
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Cornelius Dufallo (violin) Yves Dharamraj (cello) Jenny Lin (piano)Composer: SilvestrovWhere else would a postscript and an epitaph precede a drama? So strongly individual and oddly touching is the music of Valentin Silvestrov (b.1937) that the reversal works. A Ukrainian, he is another ...
