Reviews – Page 174
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ArticleInsects and Paper Airplanes l. Dillon: String Quartets no.2 (Flight), no.3 (Air) & no.4 (The Infinite Space), What Happened
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Rock music and gliding are among the inspirations behind a series of string quartetsMusicians: Daedalus Quartet, Benjamin Hochman (piano)Composer: DillonIt’s a rare achievement to combine rigorous intellectualism with wit, spontaneity and fun, but the chamber works by US composer Lawrence Dillon (currently ...
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ArticleLes Escapades du Roi. Works by M.-A. Charpentier, Marais, F. & L. Couperin, Forqueray, Lully, Visée, L’Affilard, Rossi, Montéclair & Lalande
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A novel programme that uses French viol music to narrate a story of love winning outMusicians: Monika Mauch (soprano) Les EscapadesComposer: M.-A. Charpentier, Marais, F. & L. Couperin, Forqueray, Lully, Visée, L’Affilard, Rossi, Montéclair & LalandeUsing music by composers who worked for ...
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ArticleMendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor op.64. Tchaikovsky: Pezzo elegiaco from Piano Trio in A minor op.50
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A missed opportunity to celebrate Isaac Stern’s role in saving Carnegie HallMusicians: Isaac Stern (violin) Mstislav Rostropovich (cello) Vladimir Horowitz (piano) Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/Leonard BernsteinComposer: Mendelssohn, TchaikovskyOf course Isaac Stern’s 90th birthday and the 50th anniversary of his Carnegie Hall rescue should ...
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ArticleMozart: String Quartets in C major K157, in B flat major K458 ‘Hunt’ & in B flat major K589
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2011Description: First-rate accounts of three varied Mozart quartetsMusicians: Jerusalem QuartetComposer: MozartFor this sublime disc the Jerusalem Quartet chooses one ‘Italian’ work, one ‘Haydn’ and one ‘Prussian’. The playing in the three-movement early piece is alert and very beautiful: the wistful Andante ...
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ArticlePiston: String Quartets nos.1, 3 & 5
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Confident performances of string quartets from an American neo-ClassicistMusicians: Harlem QuartetComposer: PistonBy comparison with Copland’s ‘voice of America’ style and Barber’s post-Romantic impulses, Walter Piston was more of a traditionalist, one whose absorption of Stravinsky, Bartók and Hindemith into a highly individual ...
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ArticleRaphael: Violin Concerto no.2 op.87, Solo Violin Sonata op.46 no.2, Duos op.47 nos.1, 2 & 6, Violin Sonatas op.12 no.1 & no.3 op.43, Sonatina op.52, Jabonah op.66a, Sonata for violin & organ op.36
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A concerto and chamber music from a forgotten figure of 20th-century German musicMusicians: Christine Raphael (violin) Max Rostal (violin/viola) Ulf Rodenhäuser (clarinet) Rainer Gepp, Ernst Gröschel (piano) Wolfgang Stockmeier (organ) Northwest German Philharmonic/Jorge RotterComposer: RaphaelGünter Raphael (1903–60) was a German composer and ...
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ArticleThe Trio Sonata in 18th-Century England. Works by Ravenscroft, Handel, Avison, Boyce, Arne, Abel & Erskine
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Little-known composers come to life on a disc of English trio sonatasMusicians: London BaroqueComposer: Ravenscroft, Handel, Avison, Boyce, Arne, Abel & Erskine This latest addition to London Baroque’s growing discography of English and European trio sonatas is a survey of both a ...
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ArticleThe Unknown Beethoven. Beethoven: Cello Sonata in E flat major op.64 (arr. Kleinheinz?), works for mandolin and piano (arr. Berger)
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A sixth Beethoven cello sonata earns its place in the repertoire Musicians: Julius Berger (cello) José Gallardo (piano)Composer: Beethoven‘Unknown’ doesn’t really apply to the Sonata op.64, whose six movements are immediately familiar as the String Trio op.3. As in Beethoven’s other cello ...
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ArticleVeale: String Quartet, Impromptu for solo recorder, Triptych for Recorder and String Quartet. Crawford: Elegiac Quintet, Three Two-Part Inventions, Clarinet Quintet
The Strad Issue: January 2011Musicians: Adderbury Ensemble, John Turner (recorder) Linda Merrick (clarinet)Composer: Veale, Crawford Chamber music from two lesser-known British composersBritish-born composer John Veale (1922–2006) had an early career in film music, followed by studies with Roger Sessions and Roy Harris in the ...
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ArticleViolin and Electronics. Works by Mobberley, First, Levick, Aikman, Browning, Felice & Long
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Mixed results from a collection of music music for solo violin and electronicsMusicians: Davis Brooks (violin)Composer: Mobberley, First, Levick, Aikman, Browning, Felice & LongDavis Brooks is a violin professor at Butler University in Indianapolis and associate concertmaster of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, ...
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ArticleBach: Reconstructions and Transcriptions for Strings: Orchestral Suite BWV1067, Fugue in G minor BWV539/1001, Concerto in E minor BWV1053/169/49, Goldberg Variations BWV988 (selection)
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Sensuous performances of Bach arranged for string ensembleMusicians: Furor Musicus/Antoinette Lohmann (viola)Composer: BachThis is period instrument performance at its most warmly engaging and least didactic. Beautifully recorded in an ecclesiastical setting, Bach’s contrapuntal miracles create the strange impression of musical weightlessness as ...
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ArticleBeamish: Violin Concerto, Callisto, Symphony no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: An affecting, war-ravaged violin concerto played by its dedicateeMusicians: Anthony Marwood (violin) Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Martyn BrabbinsComposer: BeamishSally Beamish’s 1994 Violin Concerto was written for Anthony Marwood. At his suggestion, it takes Erich Maria Remarque’s novel of the First World War, All ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Concerto in D major op.61, Symphony no.7 in A major op.92
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A fresh approach to Beethoven’s Violin Concerto that includes new cadenzasMusicians: David Grimal (violin/director) Les DissonancesComposer: BeethovenFaced with such an enormous choice of recordings of the Beethoven concerto, this one at least has a unique selling point in new cadenzas composed for ...
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ArticleBohemia. Janácek: Dumka, Violin Sonata. Maratka: Czardas III. Martinu: Violin Sonata no.3. Suk: Four Pieces op.17
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A generally successful recital of Czech violin repertoireMusicians: Marianne Piketty (violin) Dana Ciocarlie (piano) Composer: Janácek, Maratka, Martinu, SukFrench violinist Marianne Piketty and Romanian pianist Dana Ciocarlie interpret a carefully chosen Bohemian and Moravian programme impressively. My only query concerns ...
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ArticleCorelli's Legacy. Sonatas by Corelli, Carbonelli, Mossi, Visconti, Castrucci, Locatelli & Montanari
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Mixed rewards in a collection exploring rarities of the Baroque sonata repertoireMusicians: Musica Antiqua RomaComposer: Corelli, Carbonelli, Mossi, Visconti, Castrucci, Locatelli & MontanariMusica Antiqua Roma showcases some of the legacy of Corelli’s Sonatas op.5, which served as models for numerous subsequent examples ...
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ArticleSchoenberg: String Quartet no.3 op.30, Chamber Symphony op.9 (arr. Webern), Scherzo in F major, Presto in C major
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Performances that make even twelve-note Schoenberg communicate freelyMusicians: Pražák Quartet, Jaromír Klepá? (piano)Composer: SchoenbergSchoenberg’s Third Quartet was among the first works he composed using exclusively dodecaphonic techniques. The shimmering cool and textural hypersensitivity of the LaSalle Quartet (originally Deutsche Grammophon, ...
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ArticleSchubert: Violin Sonatina in D major D384 (arr. Coppey for cello), Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D821, Piano Trio in B flat major D898
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A trio of Schubert recordings that fails to convinceMusicians: Ilya Gringolts (violin) Marc Coppey (cello) Peter Laul (piano)Composer: SchubertAlthough each has delightful moments, none of these well-recorded interpretations coalesces for me. The B flat major Piano Trio is presented as a sequence of ...
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ArticleSchulhoff: Violin Sonatas nos.1 & 2, Suite, Sonata for solo violin
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: An invigorating tour of the early 20th century from a single composerMusicians: Tanja Becker-Bender (violin) Markus Becker (piano) Composer: SchulhoffErwin Schulhoff (1894–1942) was one of the 20th century’s chameleons: late Romantic, Impressionist, Expressionist, Dadaist, Jazzist, neo-Classicist are all labels that apply to his music ...
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ArticleSoli
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: A treat for fans of Norwegian fiddle playingMusicians: Synnøve Bjørset, Šse Teigland, Anne Hytte (Hardanger fiddle)Composer: VariousA hardcore Hardanger album in the best sense, this disc will appeal both to devotees of the instrument and those new to the distinctive sound of ...
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ArticleBach: The Art of Fugue BWV1080, Chorale ‘Aus tiefer Not’
The Strad Issue: January 2011Description: Bach’s monument to counterpoint receives a textural makeoverMusicians: Akademie für Alte Musik BerlinComposer: BachMore than with any other composer, the music of Bach seems to withstand everything that ?is inflicted upon it, and ?here his great testament ?The Art of Fugue is offered ...
