Reviews – Page 137
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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 ...
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ReviewEastern Promise: European violin sonatas
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Three new albums of violin sonatas from central and eastern EuropeMusicians: Katrin ten Hagen (violin) & Christina Wright-Ivanova (piano); Frédéric Bednarz (violin) & Natsuki Hiratsuka (piano); Hideko Udagawa (violin) & Boris Berezovsky (piano)Composer: Prokofiev, Janácek, Bartók, Szymanowski, Shostakovich, KhachaturianIn ‘Eastern Impressions’ (ARS ...
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ReviewThrough the Centuries. L. Weiner: Duo. Fuchs: 6 Duets op.60. Gál: Divertimento op.90 no.3. Bach: 4 Two-Part Inventions (arr. David). Pleyel: Grand Duo op.69 no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An auspicious start to an ambitious series exploring violin–viola duetsMusicians: Annette-Barbara Vogel (violin) Daniel Sweaney (viola)Composer: L. Weiner, Fuchs, Gál, Bach, PleyelReleased as ‘Vol.1’, this compilation of duos for violin and viola promises to be nothing if not thorough in the coverage ...
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ReviewBirtwistle: Settings of Lorine Niedecker, Piano Trio, Bogenstrich
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Commanding performances of understated musicMusicians: Lisa Batiashvili (violin) Adrian Brendel (cello) Amy Freston (soprano) Roderick Williams (baritone) Till Fellner (piano)Composer: BirtwistleLyrical, sensitive, restrained: they’re hardly adjectives you’d use to describe much of Harrison Birtwistle’s uncompromising output, but they ably sum up the ...
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ReviewVivaldi: The Four Seasons, Concerto in F major for three violins RV551. Pärt: Passacaglia
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A no-nonsense account of Vivaldi’s famous foursomeMusicians: Anne Akiko Meyers (violin) English Chamber Orchestra/David LockingtonComposer: Vivaldi, Pärt Anne Akiko Meyers’s ample vibrato fashions a warm and elegant tone that is the antithesis of those violinists who purport to be recreating an authentic ...
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ReviewYsaÿe's 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin op.27
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Spotless accounts of these solo violin masterpiecesMusicians: Karl Stobbe (violin)Composer: YsaÿeWith Ysaÿe’s sonatas one has the choice of performances that spell out the virtuosity required, or those that brush aside such problems. Canadian violinist Karl Stobbe’s falls right between the two, with an ...
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ReviewCorelli: Church Sonatas opp.1 & 3
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A fine conclusion to a tercentennial survey of the Baroque masterMusicians: Avison EnsembleComposer: CorelliI wrote positively about the previous releases in this 300th anniversary series (see The Strad, June and October 2013), and this final issue sustains all their virtues. The Avison’s ...
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ReviewBach: Viola da Gamba Sonatas BWV1027–9
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An unusual but successful account of Bach’s gamba sonatasMusicians: Inviolata: Asbjørn Nørgaard (viola) Andreas Borregaard (accordion)Composer: BachPlaying Bach’s keyboard compositions on the accordion may at first sound like an unlikely proposition, but the instrument has an uncanny ability to impersonate a chamber organ. ...
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Review1917 – Works for Violin and Piano. Debussy: Violin Sonata in G minor. Respighi: Violin Sonata in B minor. Sibelius: Five Pieces op.81. Elgar: Violin Sonata in E minor op.82
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: An enterprising collection capturing a year in musicMusicians: Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) Huw Watkins (piano)Composer: Respighi, Sibelius, ElgarChronology is as good an excuse as any to collect some fine music together, and these pieces make an attractive set. Tamsin Waley-Cohen approaches Debussy ...
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ReviewBeethoven: String Trio in E flat major op.3, Serenade in D major op.8
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Triumphant advocacy for Beethoven’s early string triosMusicians: Zimmermann TrioComposer: BeethovenEvincing an old-world allure and sophistication with barely a whiff of ‘historically informed’ rhetoric along the way, the all-star Zimmermann Trio (violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, violist Antoine Tamestit and cellist Christian Poltéra) ...
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ReviewC.P.E. Bach: Viola da Gamba Sonatas in C major Wq136 & D major Wq137. Alborea: Cello Sonatas in C major, G major & D major
The Strad Issue: January 2014Description: Interesting instrumental decisions on a disc of Baroque sonatasMusicians: Jennifer Morsches (violoncello piccolo/Baroque cello) Robin Bigwood (harpsichord/organ) David Miller (theorbo/archlute) Jane Gower (bassoon)Composer: C.P.E. Bach, AlboreaAt first it seems an unusual decision to perform C.P.E. Bach’s two viola da gamba sonatas on the five-string ...
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ReviewShostakovich: Cello Concertos no.1 in E flat major op.107 & no.2 in G minor op.126
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2014Description: A heartfelt addition to the Shostakovich discographyMusicians: Truls Mørk (cello) Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily PetrenkoComposer: ShostakovichTruls Mørk’s intelligent artistry and Vasily Petrenko’s vibrant conducting combine in a fine new recording of Shostakovich’s two great cello concertos, both written for Rostropovich. Mørk is a ...
