Reviews – Page 121
-
ReviewOrbit: Music for Solo Cello. Music by Berio, Carter, Dallapiccola, Glass, Golijov, Hendrix, Lennon/McCartney, Ligeti, Machover, Mackey, Moravec, Pop, Rorem, Sanford, Sciarrino, Sokolovic, Spratlan, Tr
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Matt Haimovitz presents a compelling anthology of cello storiesMusicians: Matt Haimovitz (cello)Composer: Berio, Carter, Dallapiccola, Glass, Golijov, Hendrix, Lennon/McCartney, Ligeti, Machover, Mackey, Moravec, Pop, Rorem, Sanford, Sciarrino, Sokolovic, Spratlan, Tremblay, Twining, Woolf, YunNot so much a recital disc, US cellist Matt Haimovitz’s ...
-
ReviewPresence. Vasks: Cello Concerto no.2 ‘Klatbutne/Presence’; Musique du soir; Gramata cellam
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Vasks’s beautiful sound world brought brilliantly to life by Sol GabettaMusicians: Sol Gabetta (cello) Irène Timacheff-Gabetta (organ) Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida ThompsonComposer: VasksConviction is everything when performing music by the Latvian composer PÄ“teris Vasks. Without it, his highly emotional works can sound ...
-
ReviewItalian Journey: Works for string orchestra by Bazzini, Ernst, Mascagni, Morricone, Paganini, Respighi and Tartini
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Works old and new that display this young group’s talentsMusicians: LGT Young Soloists/Alexander GilmanComposer: Bazzini, Ernst, Mascagni, Morricone, Paganini, Respighi, TartiniThis youthful ensemble’s debut disc is well attuned to the ‘easy listening’ classical market. It offers a strange yet richly varied selection ...
-
ReviewNielsen: Violin Concerto; Prelude and Theme with Variations op.48; Prelude and Presto op.52
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Ideal playing in Nielsen’s Concerto and unaccompanied worksMusicians: Cecilia Zilliacus (violin) Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra/Daniel BlendulfComposer: NielsenOne shouldn’t prejudge a recording, but as soon as I spotted the word ‘ugly’ in the self-penned essay Cecilia Zilliacus has appended to this disc, ...
-
ReviewBerg: Lyric Suite. Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht. Webern: Langsamer Satz; Five Movements op.5
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: March 2016Description: Expressions of love by the composers of the Second Viennese SchoolMusicians: Belcea Quartet, Nicolas Bone (viola) Antonio Meneses (cello)Composer: Berg; Schoenberg; WebernA theme of love runs through this very generously filled, 81-minute disc of music by the Second Viennese School ...
-
ReviewShostakovich: Cello Concertos nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Capuçon and Gergiev find the chamber intimacy in the cello concertosMusicians: Gautier Capuçon (cello) Mariinsky Orchestra/Valery GergievComposer: ShostakovichIt is difficult for anyone recording these particular scores to ignore the towering presence of Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom both concertos were written and who ...
-
ReviewSchubert: String Quintet in C major D956
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Schubert’s chamber masterpiece in an arrangement with added bottomMusicians: Amsterdam Sinfonietta Soloists, Rick Stotijn (double bass)Composer: SchubertTaking inspiration from a Sliding Doors vision of history – Domenico Dragonetti and Schubert as bosom buddies – the latest recording from the Amsterdam Sinfonietta takes ...
-
ReviewKancheli: Chiaroscuro; Twilight
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Kremer and friends locate the light and dark in Kancheli’s musicMusicians: Gidon Kremer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Kremerata BalticaComposer: KancheliGiya Kancheli’s pessimistic view of the world expresses itself in music that can be both simplistic and banal. Familiar, sentimental, often sickly Romantic chord ...
-
ReviewGrieg: Violin Sonatas: no.1 in F major, no.2 in G major, no.3 in C minor
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Admirable playing – but it can’t match up to the competitionMusicians: Daniela Cammarano (violin) Alessandro Deljavan (piano)Composer: GriegDaniela Cammarano and Alessandro Deljavan offer commendable, thoughtful readings, rising to the various challenges of the fast movements and responding well to the abundant lyricism ...
-
ReviewColeridge-Taylor: Violin Concerto in G minor. Delius: Suite. H. Wood: Violin Concerto in A minor
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Music by Brits that nevertheless displays an American accentMusicians: Tasmin Little (violin) BBC Philharmonic/Andrew DavisComposer: Coleridge-Taylor; Delius; H. WoodThe Chandos engineers have produced a typically wide and opulent soundstage for concertante works by three English composers who crossed the Atlantic – in ...
-
ReviewCassadó: Suite for Solo Cello. Kodály: Solo Cello Sonata; Duo
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Meneses tackles two peaks of the solo cello repertoireMusicians: Antonio Meneses (cello) Claudio Cruz (violin)Composer: Cassadó; KodályGaspar Cassadó’s three-movement, Catalan-themed response to the Bach Suites is still little known in proportion to its originality, perhaps owing to the vertiginous technical demands it ...
-
ReviewBruch: Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor; Romance in A minor; Serenade in A minor
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Wonderful playing – even if the programme is back to frontMusicians: Jack Liebeck (violin) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Martyn BrabbinsComposer: BruchI am curious about the ordering of this disc (volume 19 in Hyperion’s Romantic Violin Concerto series). The cover lists the works in ...
-
ReviewBrahms: Two String Quartets op.51
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Playing of warmth that gets to the heart of Brahms’s elusive quartetsMusicians: New Orford QuartetComposer: BrahmsBrahms’s op.51 string quartets synthesise Beethovenian structural integrity with Schubertian lyricism under high musical pressure. The resulting contrapuntal compression was to have a vital creative impact on ...
-
ReviewBrahms: String Quintet no.2 in G major. Dvorák: String Quintet no.3 in E flat major ‘American’
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Garlitsky and students take on two Romantic string quintetsMusicians: Boris Garlitsky, Jaha Lee (violins) Kyoungmin Park, Georgy Kovalev (violas) Philip Graham (cello)Composer: Brahms; DvorákThe expansive and eager theme that opens the second of Brahms’s string quintets is one of the most notable ...
-
ReviewBrahms: Cello Sonata in E minor op.38. Schumann: Fantasiestücke op.73; Intermezzo from F-A-E Sonata; Adagio and Allegro op.70; Three Romances op.94
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Characterful playing of persuasive transcriptions for violaMusicians: Ettore Causa (viola) Boris Berman (piano)Composer: Brahms; SchumannSchumann probably brought it upon himself when he allowed his late chamber music to be published in versions for different instruments.On this disc, violist Ettore Causa plays pieces ...
-
ReviewAmerican Works. Barber: Cello Sonata. Bernstein: Three Meditations from Mass. Carter: Cello Sonata. Crumb: Sonata for Solo Cello. Copland: Waltz and Celebration from Billy the Kid
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Crumb and Carter stand out in a recital of cello AmericanaMusicians: Paul Watkins (cello) Huw Watkins (piano)Composer: Barber; Bernstein; Carter; Crumb; CoplandMidtown Manhattan skyscrapers swirling in the city mist: the cover art framing Paul and Huw Watkins’s album of stateside cello and ...
-
ReviewBach: Cello Suites Vol.1; no.1 BWV1007, no.3 BWV1009, no.4 BWV1010
The Strad Issue: February 2016Description: A natural approach pays dividends in three of Bach’s Cello SuitesMusicians: Joachim Eijlander (cello)Composer: BachOh no, was my initial reaction on encountering this disc – not another version of the Bach Suites! But when I began listening to the natural and unaffected ...
-
ReviewMy Armenia. Babadjanian: Six Pictures. Bagdasarian: Nocturne; Rhapsody. Khachaturian: Poem-Song; Two Dances from Gayaneh. Komitas: The Apricot Tree; The Crane; It Is Spring; Seven Folk Dances. Mirzoya
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Leading Armenian players lovingly perform the music of their countryMusicians: Sergey Khachatryan (violin) Lusine Khachatryan (piano)Composer: Babadjanian; Bagdasarian; Khachaturian; Komitas; MirzoyanThis recording, ‘dedicated to the 100th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide’, is presented by violinist Sergey Khachatryan, winner of the ...
-
ReviewFitelberg: String Quartets nos.1 & 2; Serenade; Sonatine; Nachtmusik
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Premiere recordings of chamber music that’s truly worth investigatingMusicians: ARC EnsembleComposer: FitelbergJerzy Fitelberg, born in Poland in 1903, ended up in New York avoiding the Nazis. By the time he died in 1951 he was feted by the contemporary music ...
-
ReviewBeethoven: Complete Works for Cello and Piano
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: February 2016Description: Sparkling performances of Beethoven’s cello sonatas and variationsMusicians: Xavier Phillips (cello) François-Frédéric Guy (piano)Composer: BeethovenBy way of a musical limbering-up exercise, Xavier Phillips and François-Frédéric Guy open their latest release with the three sets of variations that Beethoven based on ...
