All Reviews articles – Page 221
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ArticleJ.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, BWV1001–6
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: John Holloway (violin)Composer: J.S. Bach This is very special indeed. As a distinguished Baroque violinist and Biber interpreter of decades’ standing, John Holloway views the Bach sonatas and partitas as the culmination of a tradition and style, rather than coming to them ...
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ArticleRawsthorne: String Quartets nos.1–4, Theme and Variations for two violins
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Maggini QuartetComposer: Rawsthorne Rawsthorne was not a string player, and listening to these quartets one feels they were conceived for four musical lines rather than for four stringed instruments. It’s rare for them to use any techniques more adventurous than pizzicato, resulting ...
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ArticleThe British Book. Weir: String Quartet. Elgar: String Quartet in E minor op.83. Maxwell Davies: Little Quartets nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Reinhold QuartetComposer: Weir, Elgar, Maxwell DaviesIt is tempting to wonder whether a British ensemble would package together the works of, say, Henze, Stockhausen and Rihm and call it The German Book. There does seem to be a whiff of the exotic in ...
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ArticleIves: String Quartets nos.1 & 2, Scherzo
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Blair QuartetComposer: Ives The Blair Quartet brings many good qualities to Ives’s idiosyncratic quartets, not least the ability to bind their more bizarre aspects together with conviction. There is a muscularity to this playing, emphasised by the clear, dry recording, which aptly ...
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ArticleBacewicz: Violin Sonatas nos.1-5, Partita, Humoreske, Kolysanka, Witraz, Melodia, Two Oberki, Concertino, Caprice, Theme with Variations, Three Dances
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Piotr Plawner (violin) Ewa Kupiec (piano)Composer: Bacewicz The Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz was herself a violinist of distinction, who studied with André Touret and Carl Flesch, as well as mastering composition with Nadia Boulanger. Bacewicz’s ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D major op.77, Concerto for violin and cello in A minor op.102
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: David Oistrakh (violin) Mstislav Rostropovich (cello) Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyril Kondrashin (conductor)Composer: BrahmsThe Moscow Philharmonic’s excitable introduction to the Brahms Violin Concerto sets the scene for the whole of this 1963 performance in London’s Royal Festival Hall. David Oistrakh, a very different ...
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ArticleFauré: Violin Sonata in A major op.13 (arr. cello), Elégie op.24, Romance op.69, Papillon op.77, Sérénade op.98, Sicilienne op.78. Duparc: Cello Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Anssi Kartunnen (cello) Tuija Hakkila (piano)Composer: Fauré, Duparc Cellists have recently acquired a reputation for being pirates of other instruments’ repertoire. And as nothing is safe, it seems only reasonable that Fauré’s sublime First Violin Sonata should enter the ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartet in B flat op.130, Grosse Fuge in B flat major op.133
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Endellion Quartet Composer: BeethovenThe opening of this extraordinary work – a serenade in excelsis – invites the listener in, as it is played by the great Endellion Quartet. The contrasts in the slow introduction are fully comprehended ...
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ArticleBarber: Violin Concerto op.14. Korngold: Violin Concerto op.35. Walton: Violin Concerto
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: James Ehnes (violin) Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey (conductor)Composer: Barber, Korngold, Walton Nearly 79 minutes of wonderful playing: CDs rarely come more generous than this. James Ehnes’s glowing tone and melodic eloquence are nigh-on ideal in these lush works, ...
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ArticleDeclarations: Music Between the Wars’. Janácek: String Quartet no.2 ‘Intimate Letters’. Crawford Seeger: String Quartet. Hindemith: String Quartet no.4 op.22
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Pacifica-QuartetComposer: Janácek, Crawford-Seeger, HindemithComparisons are available for all these works, but they are rendered irrelevant both by the programming and the playing, which reconstruct a sense of what it might have been like to be living through and composing music in the ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Concertos in G major K216, in D major K218 & in A major K219
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Marianne Thorsen (violin/director) Trondheim SoloistsComposer: Mozart People who invest in expensive hi-fi have a real need for superfine recordings which are also good performances. This package, containing two discs – an ordinary CD and an SACD – with the ...
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ArticleElegy. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons. Roberts: An English Elegy, Summer Song. Elgar: Salut d’amour. Liszt (arr. Roberts): Consolation no.3. Massenet: Méditation from ‘Thais’. Barber: Adagio for Strings
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Roland Roberts (violin/director) City of Oxford Orchestra, Levon Parikian (conductor)Composer: Vivaldi, Roberts, Elgar, Liszt, Massenet, Barber The disc’s title, ‘Elegy’, refers to a recently composed work by Roland Roberts, a piece that stylistically follows in the footsteps of ...
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ArticleKarlowicz: Violin Concerto op.8, Stanislas and Anna Oswiecimowie
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Dorota Anderszewska (violin) Orchestre National de Montpellier, Friedemann Layer (conductor)Composer: Karlowicz A sustained feeling of joy and rapture pervades this richly Romantic Polish concerto: there are few clouds on the horizon. The noble, spacious opening soon ushers in a ...
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ArticleAdams: The Dharma at Big Sur; My Father Knew Charles Ives
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Tracy Silverman (electric violin) BBC Symphony Orchestra, John Adams (conductor) Composer: AdamsJohn Adams has been honest – unusually so among composers – about the sources of inspiration for two recent orchestral scores. Even so, you wouldn’t need to ...
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ArticleBlues. Works by Gershwin, Marshall, Antheil, Debussy, Joplin, Copland & Ravel
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Matthew Trusler (violin) Wayne Marshall (piano) Composer: Gershwin, Marshall, Antheil, Debussy, Joplin, Copland & Ravel On his enterprising new recording label, Matthew Trusler follows up his fine accounts of the Janá?cek, Elgar and Debussy sonatas with ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Complete works for violin and piano
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Paul Barritt (violin) James Lisney (piano)Composer: Beethoven It is unsurprising that Paul Barritt and James Lisney share a common view of Beethoven, because their richly toned, expansive interpretations are the results of a recording project extending over a ...
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ArticleJanácek: Violin Sonata. Respighi: Violin Sonata in B minor. Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat major.
The Strad Issue: January 2007Musicians: Frank Almond (violin) William Wolfram (piano)Composer: Janácek, Respighi, Strauss Despite the supreme advocacy of Kyung-Wha Chung and Krystian Zimerman on an award-winning Deutsche Grammophon release back in 1990, the Respighi Sonata has failed to make much of ...
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ArticleBritish Viola Concertos. Walton: Viola Concerto. Beamish: Viola Concerto no.1. Britten: Lachrymae
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Tatjana Masurenko, NDR Radio Philharmonic, Garry WalkerComposer: Walton, Beamish, BrittenTatjana Masurenko keeps growing in artistry every time I hear her. Following an unaccompanied recital (also for Coviello Classics) which I reviewed over two years ago (see The Strad, April 2004), she now ...
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ArticleRihm: String Quartets nos.1, 4, 5 & 8
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Doelen QuartetComposer: Rihm The twelve-ish quartets of Wolfgang Rihm are set fair to define the state of the art of the modern quartet. A bold claim? Well, it’s bold music, and musicians seem keen to measure up to ...
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ArticleShostakovich: Violin Concertos nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2006Musicians: Sergei Khachatryan (violin) French National Orchestra, Kurt Masur (conductor)Composer: ShostakovichAnd still they come. Recordings of Shostakovich’s claustrophobically forbidding First Concerto continue to emerge at a dizzying pace that currently shows no sign of abating. Although collectors should on no account miss hearing ...
