Reviews – Page 126
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ReviewSmetana: String Quartets: no.1 in E minor ‘From My Life’; no.2 in D minor
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: September 2015Description: Solid Smetana from the award-winning Czech string quartetMusicians: Pavel Haas QuartetComposer: SmetanaRecording the two Smetana quartets is a rite of passage for any Czech ensemble, and the Pavel Haas Quartet – already a prize winner for its recordings of Janácek ...
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ReviewCzerny: Four String Quartets
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: September 2015Description: Rediscovered quartets by a famed follower of BeethovenMusicians: Sheridan EnsembleComposer: CzernyThat Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny (1791–1857) was a consummate master of the string quartet genre is hardly astonishing. Some readers might be surprised, however, that the recent rediscovery of the ...
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ReviewBach: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord BWV1014–19
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: September 2015Description: Experiment and sensitivity in Bach’s accompanied violin sonatasMusicians: Lucy Russell (violin) John Butt (harpsichord)Composer: BachIntellectual challenge and a spirit of Empfindsamkeit animate these magnificent new recordings of the sonatas that Bach wrote in his first five years as Kapellmeister in ...
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ReviewYsaÿe: Six Sonatas for Solo Violin
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Ibragimova’s personal and introspective view of Ysaÿe’s solo sonatasMusicians: Alina Ibragimova (violin)Composer: YsaÿeAlina Ibragimova is one of today’s most unassuming virtuoso violinists, her approach to Ysaÿe’s sonatas offering a perfect foil to those performances seeking to thrill with a show ...
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ReviewImpérial Oïstrakh! Works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Franck, Lalo, Mozart, Schubert and Wieniawski
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Complete works and extracts help to illustrate Oistrakh’s greatnessMusicians: David Oistrakh (violin) various artistsComposer: Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Franck, Lalo, Mozart, Schubert and WieniawskiThis compilation seems designed for those Classic FM listeners who like ‘a bit of Mozart’. Four complete works, including the ...
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ReviewThe Great Violins vol.1: Andrea Amati 1570, Telemann: 12 Fantasies for Violin; 12 Fantasies for Flute
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Sheppard Skærved’s new series presents Telemann fantasias on a 1570 AmatiMusicians: Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin)Composer: TelemannPeter Sheppard Skærved revisits Telemann’s twelve violin fantasias in a new project focusing on ‘The Great Violins’. This time, though, he plays a gut-strung 1570 Andrea Amati ...
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ReviewSchubert: String Quintet in C major D956
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: The Kuijkens on modern instruments in period styleMusicians: Kuijken Quartet, Michel Boulanger (cello)Composer: SchubertLong associated with period-instrument performance, the Kuijken family here employs instruments with modern set-ups and accessories. However, these players’ attempts to recapture the style and spirit of Schubert’s era ...
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ReviewThe Ground Beneath Our Feet. Reich: Duet. Bach: Concerto in C minor for Violin and Oboe BWV1060R. Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks. Jacobsen/Aghael: Concerto for Santur, Violin and Orchestra. The Knights: .
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: August 2015Description: East–West fusion from an ensemble that pushes boundariesMusicians: The KnightsComposer: Reich, Bach, Stravinsky, Jacobsen/Aghael, The KnightsThe Knights are an ‘orchestral collective’ based in New York and led by brothers Colin (violin) and Eric (cello) Jacobsen, best known as members of ...
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ReviewGubaidulina: String quartets nos.1–4; Reflections on the Theme B–A–C–H; Piano Quintet; String Trio; Rejoice!
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Vivid, intense playing in Gubaidulina’s chamber musicMusicians: Molinari Quartet, Louise Bessette (piano)Composer: GubaidulinaCurrently quartet-in-residence at Montreal’s Conservatory of Music, Canadian foursome the Molinari Quartet’s double-disc survey of string chamber music by Tatar-born composer Sofia Gubaidulina makes for exhausting listening, and it’s probably ...
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ReviewGlass: Partita; Knee 2 from Einstein on the Beach; Book of Longing; Interludes from Violin Concerto no.2
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Glass’s ambitious solo Partita performed by its dedicateeMusicians: Tim Fain (violin)Composer: GlassPhilip Glass’s imprimatur is all over this disc – he co-founded and is executive producer of the record label that has issued it;he wrote the 2011 Partita specially for the young ...
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ReviewGrieg: Cello Sonata in A minor op.36. Hough: Sonata for Cello and Piano Left Hand ‘Les adieux’. Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata no.2 in D major op.58
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Authoritative musicianship from Isserlis and Hough in Romantic sonatasMusicians: Steven Isserlis (cello) Stephen Hough (piano)Composer: Grieg, Hough, MendelssohnGrieg’s Cello Sonata encompasses a wide-ranging emotional landscape, to which Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough, a magnificent partnership, respond with big-hearted playing. Isserlis is good ...
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ReviewDvorák: Violin Concerto in A minor op.53. Janácek: Violin Concerto ‘The Wandering of a Little Soul’. Suk: Fantasy in G minor
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: paÄek sings and dances his way through three Czech concertosMusicians: Josef Š paÄek (violin) Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Jirí BÄ›lohlávekComposer: Dvorák, Janácek, SukDvorák’s Violin Concerto lacks the sense of ease and inevitability that informs his very finest work. Like Bruch’s G minor Concerto, it ...
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ReviewMetamorphoses. Corelli: Concerto grosso in D major op.6 no.4. Kreisler: Concerto in C major ‘in the style of Vivaldi’. Schnittke: Suite in the Old Style (arr. Ššmietana). Vivaldi: Trio Sonata op.1 no.
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Vivaldi provides the link for a collection showcasing old and new stylesMusicians: Pekka Kuusisto (violin) Artur Rozmyslowicz (viola) Extra Sounds Ensemble/Alicja Ššmietana (violin)Composer: Corelli, Kreisler, Schnittke, VivaldiAlicja Ššmietana has inspired her Extra Sounds Ensemble to fashion a disc that has a resounding ...
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ReviewThomas Gould: Live in Riga. Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major op.61. Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Contemporary music specialist performs a pair of violin standardsMusicians: Sinfonietta Riga/Thomas Gould (violin)Composer: Beethoven, Vaughan WilliamsThomas Gould – familiar to British audiences as associate leader of the Britten Sinfonia and leader of the yet more dynamic Aurora Orchestra – has a strong ...
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ReviewSoli. Bartók: Sonata for Solo Violin. G. Benjamin: Three Miniatures. Carter: Four Lauds – nos.1 & 3. Kurtág: Six Miniatures. Penderecki: Cadenza
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Tamsin Waley-Cohen alone in a sequence of solo worksMusicians: Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin)Composer: Bartók, G. Benjamin, Carter, Kurtág, PendereckiThe opening Chaconne of Bartók’s adieu to music is spaciously conceived by Tamsin Waley-Cohen (taking 14 minutes to the 9 of its dedicatee Menuhin), without ...
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ReviewBach: Six Cello Suites BWV1007–12
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: August 2015Description: Watkin chooses two cellos for a personal tour of Bach’s SuitesMusicians: David Watkin (cello)Composer: BachDavid Watkin doesn’t make the Suites sound easy. He does, though, play them with a conversational intimacy that suggests how, over the years, they have become ...
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ReviewJa(zz)smine Rice – Violin Mysteries. : Chaconne from Partita no.2 BWV1004. Dinescu: Mtram. Meyer: Misterioso. Kaunzner: Jasmine Rice; Trois Nocturnes; Wintersonnenwende. Schnyder: The Four Winds
The Strad Issue: August 2015Description: An unconventional album from a violinist with a questing mindMusicians: Viktoria Kaunzner (violin) Veit Hertenstein (viola) Sorin Creciun, Roman Salyutov, Wonsun Choi (piano)Composer: Bach, Dinescu, Meyer, Kaunzner, SchnyderThis album collects together recordings made over several years by South Korea-based German violinist Viktoria ...
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ReviewSchubert: Sonatinas in D major D384, in A minor D385, in G minor D408; Duo Sonata in A major D574; Rondeau brillant D895; Fantasie D934; Arpeggione Sonata D821; Notturno D897
The Strad Issue: July 2015Description: From charm to challenge: all of Schubert’s music for violin and pianoMusicians: Tasmin Little (violin) Tim Hugh (cello) Piers Lane (piano)Composer: SchubertA former colleague and I used to argue over lunchtime pints whether Schubert was a great composer or merely a very ...
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ReviewNemanja Radulović: Journey East
Serbian violinist ranges far, as his musical travels take him eastwards
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ReviewMacdonald: Music for String Quartet, Piano and Celeste
The Strad Issue: July 2015Description: Macdonald’s minimalism evokes film soundtrack musicMusicians: Tristan Gurney, Cheryl Crockett (violins) Catherine Marwood (viola) Alison Lawrence (cello) Francis Macdonald (piano/celesta)Composer: MacdonaldFrancis Macdonald is a Scottish film and television composer, as well as drummer with Scottish alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub. This set ...
