Reviews – Page 136
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ReviewSchubert: Violin Sonatas in D major D384, A minor D385 & G minor D408, Rondo in A major D438
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Sensitive accounts of four works from 1816Musicians: Sara Trickey (violin) Daniel Tong (piano) Callino QuartetComposer: SchubertIn order to improve sales of sheet music to amateur musicians, Schubert’s posthumous publisher downgraded the composer’s three violin sonatas to the less demanding medium of sonatina. In recent times ...
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ReviewRubbra: Cello Sonata in G minor op.60. Rawsthorne: Cello Sonata in C major. Moeran: Cello Sonata in A minor
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A welcome instalment in the cellist’s ongoing exploration of British cello repertoireMusicians: Paul Watkins (cello) Huw Watkins (piano)Composer: Rubbra, Rawsthorne, MoeranVol.3 of Paul and Huw Watkins’s British Cello and Piano series takes us to the years of austerity immediately after World War ...
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ReviewWhite Nights – Viola Music from St Petersburg, Vol. 2. Prokofiev: Pieces from Romeo and Juliet (selection, arr. Borisovsky). Banshikov: Viola Sonata. Shostakovich: Viola Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An enterprising disc in a series celebrating Russian viola musicMusicians: Tatjana Masurenko (viola) Roglit Ishay (piano)Composer: Prokofiev, Banshikov, ShostakovichThe three pieces on this CD make for a nicely varied programme by the St Petersburg-trained Tatjana Masurenko, viola professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in ...
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ReviewMozart: Violin Concertos no.3 in G major K216, no.4 in D major K218 & no.5 in A major K219
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Accounts of the concertos for those who prefer a modern approachMusicians: Arabella Steinbacher (violin) Festival Strings Lucerne/Daniel DoddsComposer: MozartHaving largely built her recording career in the realm of 20th-century composers, Arabella Steinbacher returns to her roots and a work with which she first ...
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ReviewMincek: String Quartet no.3 ‘lift–tilt–filter–split’. Rihm: Quartettstudie. Franzson: on Repetition and Reappearances. Lara: Corde vocale
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Swagger and style in an imaginative selection of contemporary worksMusicians: Mivos QuartetComposer: Mincek, Rihm, Franzson, LaraFormed in 2008, the New York-based Mivos Quartet already has a highly distinctive musical personality, demonstrated here in performances of edge-of-your-seat intensity, which still display a remarkable sense ...
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ReviewThe Hidden Violin. Godard: Solo Violin Sonatas no.1 in B minor op.20 & no.2 in A minor. Sinding: Chaconne from Suite in D minor op.123. Vecsey: Preludio e Fuga in C minor. Joachim: Schottische Melodie
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Repertoire that reinforces the lure of Bach on solo violin writingMusicians: Vaughan Jones (violin)Composer: Godard, Sinding, Vecsey, Joachim, Saint-LubinThe majority of multi-movement works for solo violin are predominantly serious in tone and appear musically tongue-tied in deference to Bach’s towering sonata and ...
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ReviewIl Violino Boemo. František Benda: Violin Sonatas in B flat major, C minor & A major (attrib. Carl Graun). Gurecký: Violin Sonata in D major. Jiránek: Violin Sonatas in F major & C major
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An enjoyable collection of 18th-century Bohemian violin sonatasMusicians: Lenka Torgersen (violin) Libor Mašek (cello) Václav Luks (harpsichord)Composer: František Benda, Gurecký, JiránekLenka Torgersen offers strong, meticulously prepared readings of these pieces, which display remarkable flair and imagination. Her articulation, smoothly contoured phrasing and ...
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ReviewBeethoven: Complete String Quartets vol.3: Quartets in C minor op.18 no.4 & in F major op.59 no.1 (Rasumovsky), Grosse Fuge in B flat major op.133
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Beethoven with drive that barely lets upMusicians: Cremona QuartetComposer: BeethovenThere’s no shortage of bite or energy in the third instalment of the Cremona Quartet’s survey of Beethoven’s string quartets. The instruments speak with crisp articulation and the players don’t hold back in ...
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ReviewYsaÿe: Sonatas for Solo Violin op.27
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Performances of substance from a young Chinese violinistMusicians: Tianwa Yang (violin)Composer: YsaÿeThere’s always the danger that violinists will get caught out by the mould-breaking technical invention of Ysaÿe’s visionary six solo sonatas. Or that, having surmounted their almost insuperable challenges, the ...
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ReviewPurcell: 10 Sonatas in Four Parts
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Gems from the English Baroque played with grace and dexterityMusicians: The King’s Consort/Robert KingComposer: PurcellThe cover photograph of scattered diamonds feels entirely apt once you listen to the disc, for each of these works is indeed a jewel. Gathered together for ...
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ReviewNordic Cello Soul. Sibelius: Andantino in C major, Andantino molto in F minor, Lulu Waltz in F sharp minor, Theme and variations. Lidholm: Quattro pezzi. Grieg: Intermezzo in A minor, Cello Sonata in
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: No revelations in this exploration of some byways of Nordic cello musicHampus Linderholm (cello) Mats JanssonMusicians: Hampus Linderholm (cello) Mats Jansson (piano)Composer: Sibelius, Lidholm, GriegEarly works by major composers are often hit or miss. Unfortunately, Sibelius’s juvenile cello works are entirely unexceptional: ...
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ReviewSchubert: Quartettsatz D703, String Quintet in C major D956
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Admirable performances that fail to meet the standards of the best on discMusicians: Cypress Quartet, Gary Hoffman (cello)Composer: SchubertIf you heard these performances in a concert, you’d go home happy. Technically they are absolutely accomplished, characterised by a lean Classical timbre. As an ...
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ReviewMendelssohn: String Quartets in A minor op.13, D major op.44 no.1 & F minor op.80
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Passionate, energised playing in three of the composer’s quartetsMusicians: Artemis QuartetComposer: MendelssohnTwo of these string quartets were conceived as memorials. The A minor work, written when Mendelssohn was 18, responds to the death of Beethoven with youthful angst, expressed by the ...
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ReviewSarasate: Opera Fantasies on Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Weber’s Der Freischütz, Verdi’s La forza del destino, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette & Reminiscence of Flotow’s Martha
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A generally satisfying collection of virtuoso operatic reworkingsMusicians: Volker Reinhold (violin) Ralph Zedler (piano)Composer: SarasatePablo Sarasate composed fantasies on popular operas throughout his life as a composer, and he used their technical demands in concert to demonstrate his immense brilliance. Even placed ...
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ReviewLeclair: Complete Sonatas for Two Violins: Sonatas opp.3 & 12
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An important release of the French composer’s neglected violin duosMusicians: Greg Ewer, Adam LaMotte (violin)Composer: LeclairGreg Ewer and Adam LaMotte are seasoned collaborators who gel cohesively and complement each other well in this landmark recording of Leclair’s twelve violin duo sonatas. They use period ...
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ReviewLanggaard: String Quartets vol.2: Rose Garden Play, String Quartets in A flat major & no.4 ‘Summer Days’
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A welcome volume in a new survey of the Danish composer’s quartetsMusicians: Nightingale QuartetComposer: LanggaardRued Langgaard (1893–1952) composed ten major works for string quartet, most of which date from the decade between 1915 and 1925. His Fourth Quartet (actually his eighth) appeared ...
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ReviewKhachaturian: Violin Concerto in D minor. Shostakovich: String Quartets no.7 in F sharp minor op.108 & no.8 in C minor op.110
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: The Canadian violinist in fine form as both soloist and quartet leaderMusicians: James Ehnes (violin) Ehnes Quartet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Mark WigglesworthComposer: Khachaturian,ShostakovichIf Khachaturian’s super-heated Concerto is normally sustained at a high emotional setting with its rapier-like thrust indulged to the maximum, James ...
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ReviewPavans and Fantasies from the Age of Dowland. Works by Dowland, Purcell, Lawes, Jenkins, Morley & Locke
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A skilled intermingling of melancholy and high spiritsMusicians: John Holloway, Monika Baer (violin/viola) Renate Steinmann, Susanna Hefti (viola) MartinuZeller (bass violin)Composer: Dowland, Purcell, Lawes, Jenkins, Morley & LockeJohn Dowland’s seven Lachrimae Pavans punctuate this CD, always gently moving, given impetus by the ...
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ReviewHytta: Draumsyn
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Ancient and modern meet on a disc that brings new sounds to old instrumentsMusicians: Anne Hytta (Hardanger fiddle/viola d’amore/vielle)Composer: HyttaAnne Hytta is one of a number of players of Scandinavian traditional stringed instruments to be taking the folk music of the region in ...
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ReviewCarter: String Quartets nos.1–5
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A masterly completion of a much-lauded cycle of quartet performancesMusicians: Juilliard QuartetComposer: CarterThe Juilliard Quartet’s recordings of the first four of Elliott Carter’s thorny yet hugely influential string quartets have every right to be considered definitive – the Juilliard players worked closely with Carter on ...
