Reviews – Page 165
-
ReviewLa Belle Danse: Ballets Anciens & Modernes. Music by Lully, Marais, Muffat, Brade, Praetorius & Rossi
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: A new recreation of a renowned Baroque French string ensembleMusicians: Capriccio Stravagante Les 24 Violons/Skip Sempé (director)Composer: Lully, Marais, Muffat, Brade, Praetorius & Rossi This live recording from the 2010 Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht has impressive clarity and presence. It marks this ...
-
ArticleAmerican Music. Reich: Different Trains. Barber: String Quartet. Crumb: Black Angels
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Commanding performances of American quartets from different traditionsMusicians: Diotima QuartetComposer: Reich, Barber, CrumbThe French-based Diotima Quartet is renowned for its interpretations of hardcore contemporary music – think Ferneyhough, Boulez, Lachenmann. So the three very different American works on this disc – one ...
-
ReviewMendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor op.64. Schumann: Violin Concerto in D minor WoO1, Fantasy op.131
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: A brave coupling of two 19th-century violin concertosMusicians: Christian Tetzlaff (violin) Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Paavo JärviComposer: Mendelssohn & SchumannThe first fruit of Christian Tetzlaff’s partnership with Ondine, this disc could prove a real test of his popularity in the marketplace. Schumann’s Violin ...
-
ReviewThe Soviet Experience Vol.1. Shostakovich: String Quartets nos.5–8. Miaskovsky: String Quartet no.13 in A minor op.86
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Performances of Shostakovich refreshingly free of political subtextsMusicians: Pacifica QuartetComposer: Shostakovich & MiaskovskyOver the years performances of Shostakovich’s music have become increasingly laden with political subtexts. Even the most innocent of gestures and elegant of structures are almost invariably forced ...
-
ReviewUstvolskaya: Composition no.2 ‘Dies irae’*, Grand Duet† , Piano Sonata no.6‡
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Compelling music by a contemporary Russian who pulls no punchesMusicians: Ludus Gravis/Stefano Scodanibbio*, Rohan de Saram† (cello) Fabrizio Ottaviucci*, Marino Formenti† ‡ (piano) Laura Mancini* (wooden cube)Composer: UstvolskayaMake no mistake: this isn’t an easy disc to listen to. The reclusive Russian ...
-
ReviewVaughan Williams: Suite, Flos campi. McEwen: Viola Concerto
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2012Description: The leading British violist explores more of the Tertis legacy to great effectMusicians: Lawrence Power (viola) BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales/Martyn BrabbinsComposer: Vaughan Williams, McEwenJohn Blackwood McEwen’s Viola Concerto was the first of many works commissioned by the great ...
-
ReviewViolin in Motion. Works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Liszt, Beethoven & Franck
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Modern advocacy for the art of the transcriber from a virtuoso duoMusicians: Lidia Baich (violin) Matthias Fletzberger (piano)Composer: Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Liszt, Beethoven & FranckThe age of violin and piano transcriptions of symphonic works had long passed when the music that ...
-
ArticleBach: Cello Suites no.2 in D minor BWV1008, no.4 in E flat major BWV1010 & no.6 in D major BWV1012
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: A disappointingly recorded survey of the even-numbered Bach Cello SuitesMusicians: Sara Sant’Ambrogio (cello)Composer: BachBach’s Cello Suites attract cellists to the recording studio like bees to a honey pot, with the result that virtually every player seems to see it as their right ...
-
ArticleBeethoven: Cello Sonata no.1 in F major op.5 no.1. Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata no.2 in D major op.58. Webern: Cello Sonata, Langsam from Zwei kleine Stücke. Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor op.19.
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: A promising debut from a young Swiss cellistMusicians: Lionel Cottet (cello) Louis Schwizgebel-Wang (piano)Composer: Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Webern, Rachmaninoff, ShostakovichHere, two 21-year-old Swiss musicians present a wide-ranging programme at a concert recorded last December in the Great Hall of the Geneva Conservatoire. As ...
-
ArticleBeethoven: Complete Violin Sonatas
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2012Description: A remarkable testament to a great violinist that transcends its sonic inadequaciesMusicians: Henri Temianka (violin) Leonard Shure (piano)Composer: BeethovenAlthough technically Scottish, Henri Temianka had a continental European background and musical education, with Polish–Jewish parents and time spent studying in Rotterdam, ...
-
ArticleBrahms: Viola Sonatas op.120
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Bel canto meets Brahms in some perhaps over-lovingly tended sonata performancesMusicians: Danilo Rossi (viola) Stefano Bezziccheri (piano)Composer: BrahmsThis latest in the apparently unending line of Brahms viola sonata recordings comes from south of the Alps. Danilo Rossi is principal viola at the ...
-
ArticleChris Stout’s Brazilian Theory: Live In Concert
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Sparks fly in a multi-continental meeting of fiddle traditionsMusicians: Chris Stout (fiddle) Thomas Rohrer (rabeca/saxophone) Catriona McKay (harp) Carlinhos Antunes (guitar/vocals) Ian Stephenson (guitar) Rui Barossi, Neil Harland (double bass) MartinuO’Neill (bodhran)Composer: Trad.Shetland fiddler Chris Stout leads a pan-global gathering on this ...
-
ArticleReger: Three Suites for solo cello op.131c
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Even top performances can’t rescue Reger’s suites from the practice roomMusicians: Ulrich Horn (cello)Composer: RegerReger’s cello suites are a little bit like cod liver oil: they’re good for you, but would you want to live on them alone? There are a few ...
-
ArticleReinecke: Cello Sonatas in A minor op.42, D major op.89 & G major op.238
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Neglected Romantic cello sonatas brought alluringly to lifeMusicians: Manuel Fischer-Dieskau (cello) Connie Shih (piano)Composer: ReineckeThree Romantic sonatas for the cello ought to be enough to set the pulses racing given the relative paucity of worthy material from this period. However, although these ...
-
ArticleSainte-Colombe: Concerts Á deux violes esgales
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Two masters of the viol in music from the French BaroqueMusicians: Wieland Kuijken, Jordi Savall (bass viol)Composer: Sainte-ColombeThe recordings for this two-disc set were originally made in 1976 and 1992. They embrace ten of Sainte-Colombe’s 67 Concerts, which comprise not only popular ...
-
ArticleSchnittke: String Quartets nos.1–4, Canon in Memoriam Igor Stravinsky
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: A Canadian ensemble brings out the songfulness of a modern Russian master’s quartetsMusicians: Molinari QuartetComposer: SchnittkeSchnittke’s four string quartets appeared variously between 1966 and 1989, announced by a work composed originally for the Borodin Quartet that draws upon the micro-gesturing and sonic profiling ...
-
ArticleSchumann: String Quartets op.41, Piano Quintet in E flat major op.44
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Recordings of Schumann that are just a little too individualistic for comfortMusicians: Gringolts Quartet, Peter Laul (piano)Composer: SchumannHow you take to the performances by the Gringolts Quartet depends very much on how you respond to the playing of Ilya Gringolts himself in the first violinist’s ...
-
ArticleSpirit Song. Works by Jacopo da Bologna, Alexander, B. Turetzky, Hauta-aho & Fricker
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Intriguing but flawed collection from the veteran US duoMusicians: Bertram Turetzky (double bass) Nancy Turetzky (flute)Composer: Jacopo da Bologna, Alexander, B. Turetzky, Hauta-aho & FrickerSpirit Song is Bertram and Nancy Turetzky’s celebration of 50 years of marriage and music making, bringing together ...
-
ArticleThe American Album. Dvorák: String Quartet in F major op.96 ‘American’. Griffes: Two Sketches Based on Indian Themes. Barber: String Quartet in B minor op.11
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Quartets that express different aspects of the American experienceMusicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: Dvorák, Griffes, Barber The booklet describes the Cypress sound as being built up from the bottom register, and in Ethan Filner’s introductory viola motif to Dvo?ák’s ‘American’ Quartet ...
-
ArticleYoffe: Song of Songs
The Strad Issue: January 2012Description: Exquisite performances of a sequence of miniatures that unfortunately quickly pallsMusicians: Rosamunde Quartet, Hilliard EnsembleComposer: YoffeRussian-born composer Boris Yoffe’s Book of Quartets is a remarkable project – an ongoing series of short, often single-page pieces for string quartet that he reputedly composes ...
