Reviews – Page 201
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ArticleSilenced Voices. Frank Denyer: Woman, Viola and Crow; Two Beacons; Tentative Thoughts, Silenced Voices; Ghosts Again
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Marieke Keser (violin) Elisabeth Smalt (viola) The Barton Workshop, Frank Denyer (director) James Fulkerson (director) Composer: Frank DenyerThis disc of recent ensemble works by the British composer Frank Denyer (b.1943), currently professor of composition at Dartington College in ...
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ArticleThe Devil's Trill. Tartini: Violin Sonatas op.1 no.4 in G minor ‘The Devil’s Trill’, Largo from op.1 no,5, op.1 no.10 in G minor ‘Didone abbandonata’ & op.1 no.13 in A major ‘Pastorale’, Grave in D mi
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: PalladiansComposer: Tartini, VeraciniThe Palladians play this challenging programme with characteristic insight and élan, radiating real empathy with the idiom. Violinist Rodolfo Richter meets the formidable technical demands of Tartini’s ‘Devil’s Trill’ and ‘Didone abbandonata’ sonatas with striking aplomb, negotiating with commendable virtuosity ...
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ArticleDohnányi: Piano Quintets no.1 in C minor op.1 & no.2 in E flat minor op.26, Cello Sonata in B flat minor op.8
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Kocian Quartet, Michal Kanka (cello) Jaromír Klepác (piano)Composer: Dohnányi The second volume in a Dohnányi series based around the Kocian Quartet opens with one of the best ‘opus ones’ in the literature – although the Hungarian pianist and ...
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ArticleFoerster: Violin Concertos no.1 in C minor & no.2 in D minor
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ivan Ženatý (violin) BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ji?í B?lohlávek (conductor)Composer: FoersterThe two violin concertos of Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859–1951) are quite different affairs, the first dramatic and colourful, the second severe and intense, and occupying a more unsettled harmonic world. Both are in ...
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ArticleFour American Quartets. Ralph Evans: String Quartet no.1. Philip Glass: String Quartet no.2 ‘Company’. Antheil: String Quartet no.3. Herrmann: ‘Echoes’ for string quartet
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Fine Arts QuartetComposer: Ralph Evans, Philip Glass, Antheil, HerrmannDespite appearing in Naxos’s American Classics series, none of these four quartets is exactly a classic, but the Fine Arts Quartet gives them full measure. With the first work they could hardly do otherwise, ...
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ArticleHands on Heart: ‘A Concert for Steve’. Works by Bartók, Kodály, Piazzolla, Rachmaninoff, Paganini, Glazunov, Rimsky-Korskov & Fauré
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Tim Hugh (Cello) Olga Sitkovetsky (piano)Composer: Bartók, Kodály, Piazzolla, Rachmaninoff, Paganini, Glazunov, Rimsky-Korskov & FauréTim Hugh, principal cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra, shines in this colossal recital given at Wigmore Hall a year ago in memory of his brother. Bartók’s Rhapsody ...
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ArticleHaydn: String Quartet in D major op.76 no.5. Leif Solberg: String Quartet in B minor. Grieg: String Quartet in G minor, op.27
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: EngegŠrd QuartetComposer: Haydn, Leif Solberg, Grieg Recorded in audiophile clarity by 2L’s founder Morten Lindberg and an assistant, here is a new ensemble founded in 2006 by three Norwegians and the British violist Juliet Jopling. The playing is refreshing, ...
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ArticleJamestown Concerto. William Perry: Jamestown Concerto for cello and orchestra. Schuman: A Song for Orpheus – Fantasy for cello and orchestra. Thomson: Cello Concerto
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Yehuda Hanani (cello) RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland), William Eddins (conductor) Composer: William Perry, Schuman, ThomsonJamestown Concerto by the American composer William Perry (b.1930) offers a cinematic, tonally approachable style painted with colourful orchestration and an appealing programme tracing the history ...
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ArticleMaxwell Davies: ‘Naxos’ Quartets nos.9 & 10
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Maggini Quartet Composer: Maxwell DaviesThese final two works in Peter Maxwell Davies’s ‘Naxos’ series of quartets match the intricately crafted writing of the previous eight – and the recording echoes the first four discs in the searing, sublime ...
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ArticleMiaskovsky: String Quartet no.13 in A minor op.86. Shostakovich: String Quartets nos.1 & 8
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Kopelman QuartetComposer: Miaskovsky, Shostakovich Although together only since 2002, the members of this group are all experienced quartet players – Mikhail Kopelman previously led the Borodin and Tokyo ensembles. They give a masterclass in chamber music playing, up ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Concerto no.3 in G major K216, Sinfonia concertante in E flat major K364
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Dominika Falger (violin) Johannes Flieder (viola) Wratislavia Chamber Orchestra, Christian Schulz (conductor)Composer: Mozart When little-known artists record major concertos, they are often in danger of being overlooked when compared with the world’s great soloists. Such an outcome would be ...
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ArticlePleyel: ‘Prussian’ String Quartets in D major (Ben 337), F major (Ben 338) & G minor (Ben 339)
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Pleyel Quartet Köln Composer: PleyelThe Pleyel Quartet Köln here offers elegant period-instrument performances of three of Pleyel’s twelve ‘Prussian Quartets’, dedicated to the cellist King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. Unlike Mozart’s last three quartets with the same dedicatee (K575, K589 ...
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ArticleProkofiev: Violin Sonatas nos.1 & 2
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Mikhail Simonyan (violin) Alexei Podkorytov (piano)Composer: Prokofiev Few composers of any period have embraced such profound emotional extremes as Prokofiev. While the violin concertos (despite their numerous differences) at least share a common neo-Romantic impulse, the ...
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ArticleBazzini: Calabrese op.34 no.6, Trois morceaux lyriques op.41, Le carillon d’Arras op.36, Deux morceaux de salon op.12, Deux grandes etudes op.49, Trois morceaux en forme de sonate op.44, La ronde des
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Chloë Hanslip (violin) Caspar Frantz (piano)Composer: BazziniAntonio Bazzini’s virtuoso repertoire for violin has for a long time been a staple of violin recitals, but this is not to say that it merely consists of technical pyrotechnics. Certainly, the works on this disc ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Concerto in D major op.61. Sulkhan Tsinrsadze: Miniatures*
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Lisa Batiashvili (violin/director) Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Georgian Chamber Orchestra*Composer: Beethoven, Sulkhan Tsinrsadze Many will find the composer coupling on this disc somewhat puzzling, but it is evidently the outcome of Lisa Batiashvili’s desire to bring together the ...
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ArticleBowen: Viola Sonatas no.1 in C minor op.18 & no.2 in F major op.22, Romances in D flat major & in A major, Fantasia for four violas, Phantasy in F major, etc. Beethoven: First movement of Piano Sonata
Musicians: Lawrence Power (viola) Philip Dukes (viola) James Boyd (viola) Scott Dickinson (viola) Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano)Composer: Bowen, BeethovenThese are heady days for lovers of Edwardian English viola music: shortly after Roger Chase’s beautiful Benjamin Dale recording (see The Strad, @@@[WILL CHECK WHEN IN OFFICE – MR]), here we ...
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ArticleSchubert: Piano Quintet in A major D667 ‘Trout’. Mozart': Piano Quartet in E flat major K493
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Pinchas Zukerman (violin) Jethro Marks (viola) Amanda Forsyth (cello) Joel Quarrington (double bass) Yefim Bronfman (piano) Composer: Schubert, MozartThe standard of playing and musicianship is so high here that normal criticism seems impertinent. Even the Canadian-made ...
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ArticleFauré: String Quartet in E minor. Franck: String Quartet in D major
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Dante QuartetComposer: Fauré, FranckCésar Franck and Gabriel Fauré composed only one string quartet apiece. Both works were written in the composers’ maturity – Fauré’s in his late 70s, Franck’s a year before his death at 67. It’s a pleasing pairing for the ...
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ArticleMozart: Oboe Quartet in F major K370, Three arias from Die Zauberflöte, Adagio in C minor K580a. Britten: Phantasy Quartet op.2. Dohnányi: Serenade in C major for String Trio op.10
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Lisa Batiashvili (violin) Lawrence Power (viola) Sebastian Klinger (cello) François Leleux (oboe)Composer: Mozart, Britten, Dohnányi Dohnányi’s Serenade for String Trio provides the most extensive work in this disc’s unusual programme. The score offers an attractive blend of warmth ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Piano Trios in D major op.70 no.1 ‘Ghost’ & in B flat major op.97 ‘Archduke’
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Eggner TrioComposer: BeethovenThe three Eggner brothers have gradually gained an international reputation since they formed their piano trio in 1997, winning the 1999 Brahms Competition and the 2003 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and touring widely to critical acclaim. Their debut CD ...
