Reviews – Page 186
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ArticleFantasy. Messiaen: La mort du nombre, Thème et variations, Fantaisie. Schoenberg: Phantasy op.47. Schubert: Fantasie D934, Si emir gegrüsst! D741
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Kaori Yamada (violin) Sholto Kynoch (piano) Rhona McKail (soprano) Nicky Spence (tenor)Composer: Messiaen, Schoenberg, Schubert Based around the idea of musical fantasy, this ingenious programme offsets the music of one of France’s most inspired and overtly sensual ‘fantasists’ against the heightened ...
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ArticleFauré: Piano Quintets no.1 in D minor op. 89 & no.2 in C minor op.115
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Schubert EnsembleComposer: FauréWilliam Howard’s piano opening of Fauré’s First Piano Quintet conjures up water rippling through stones, and it is that fresh and open-air atmosphere that permeates the whole of this performance. It has often been said that the work does not ...
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ArticleFirst Steps. Bruckner: Rondo in C minor. Britten: String Quartet in F major. Puccini: String Quartet in D major. Grieg: Fugue in F minor. Rachmaninoff: String Quartet no.1. Webern: Langsamer Satz. Sch
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ruysdael QuartetComposer: Bruckner, Britten, Puccini, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Webern, SchoenbergUnder the album title ‘First Steps’, the Ruysdael Quartet has created a programme of apprentice pieces to create a quite delightful release. Many of the composers did not continue writing in this genre, but ...
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ArticleHartmann: String Quartets no.1 (Carillon) & no.2, Little Concerto for string quartet and percussion, Chamber Concerto for clarinet, string quartet and string orchestra; plus interviews
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Doelen Quartet, Arjan Woudenberg (clarinet) Wilbert Grootenboer (percussion) Sinfonia Rotterdam/Conrad van AlphenComposer: HartmannString enthusiasts are most likely to know Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905–63) for his Concerto funèbre (1939) for violin and strings, a key work of the Munich-based composer’s self-imposed internal exile ...
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ArticleAdès: Violin Concerto ‘Concentric Paths’ op.24*, Tevot† , Three Studies from Couperin*, Overture, Waltz & Finale from ‘Powder her Face’‡
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Description: Selection disc 1: Musicians: Anthony Marwood (violin) Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Thomas Adès*, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Simon Rattle† , National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain/Paul Daniel‡Composer: AdèsOne of the challenges facing composers over the last century or so ...
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ArticleKodály: Sonata for solo cello op.8. Roxburgh: Partita for solo cello. Britten: Suite no.3 for solo cello op.87
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: James Barralet (cello) Composer: Kodály, Roxburgh, BrittenIn 2007 British cellist James Barralet won the Landor Records Competition; this debut disc is the result. Kodály’s Sonata opens it in arresting fashion. Barralet, who studied with Demenga at the Musikhochschule Basel, plays with energy ...
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ArticleL’Art du Violon Seul dans L’Allemagne Baroque. Works by Bach, Biber, Pisendel & Westhoff
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Mira Glodeanu (Baroque violin)Composer: Bach, Biber, Pisendel & Westhoff There is a remarkable intimacy and adventurousness about Mira Glodeanu’s account of Bach’s First Sonata (BWV1001). She possesses a clean, substantially accurate left-hand technique and largely conveys voice-leading clearly and intelligently. Particularly ...
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ArticleLang: Lyoba Revisited
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Daniel Pezzotti, Andi Plattner, Daniel Schaerer, Ambrosius Huber (cellos) Heiri Känzig (double bass) Mathieu Michel (flugelhorn) Thierry Lang (piano) Composer: LangThierry Lang’s ‘chamber jazz’ reinterpretations of melodies from his native western Switzerland combine cello quartet and jazz trio. While the framework ...
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ArticleLe Maître et L’Élève. Bach: Cello Suite no 5 in C minor. Offenbach: Duo Lettre F: Suite no.1 in G minor for two cellos. Popper: Virtuoso pieces
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Raphaël Pidoux, Bruno Philippe (cellos) Elodie Soulard (accordion)Composer: Bach, Offenbach, PopperAs the title suggests, two young players each accompany Raphaël Pidoux, in keeping with the pedagogical concept behind the Offenbach Suite. Bruno Philippe is the partner in this work, the last in ...
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ArticleOnslow: Piano Quintet op.70, Quintet ‘de la Balle’ op.38
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Ensemble Monsolo, François-Joël Thiollier (piano) Composer: OnslowMany of Onslow’s 34 string quintets allow for an instrumentarium of flexible constitution. Ensemble Monsolo performs his semi-programmatic op.38, subtitled ‘The Bullet’, in the version for string quartet and double bass. These players convey the drama ...
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ArticlePágina Esquecida. Portuguese music for cello and piano: works by Lopes-Graça, Almeida, Fernandes, Freitas, Braga Santos, Branco, Peixinho, Costa & Carneyro
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Bruno Borralhinho (cello) Luisa Tender (piano)Composer: Lopes-Graça, Almeida, Fernandes, Freitas, Braga Santos, Branco, Peixinho, Costa & CarneyroThis compilation’s title, ‘Forgotten Page’, refers here to Portuguese cello music of the last century, but could just as well be used for Portuguese music as ...
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ArticleProkofiev: String Quartets nos.1 & 2, Sonata for two violins op.56
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Pavel Haas QuartetComposer: Prokofiev Considering their high quality, it is surprising how relatively few couplings of Prokofiev’s two string quartets have emerged on disc. If neo-Classical precision is a priority the Emerson Quartet (available as a download ...
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ArticleBach: Cello Suites (complete)
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Joseph Elworthy (cello)Composer: Bach Casals used to allude to the ever-changing face of the Bach suites, making the idea of committing one single view of these works to a recording a somewhat daunting process. Canadian cellist Joseph Elworthy, however, presents ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Complete Violin Sonatas vol.2: Sonatas in A minor op.23 & F major (Spring) op.24, Twelve Variations on ‘Se vuol ballare’ WoO40, Six German Dances WoO42
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Hiro Kurosaki (violin) Linda Nicholson (fortepiano)Composer: Beethoven Period instruments are rarely as precise as the Franz Geissenhof instrument Hiro Kurosaki uses on this recording: it was made in 1801, the year these sonatas were published, and in Vienna, the city ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quartet in B flat major op.130, Grosse Fuge in B flat major op.133
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Vertavo QuartetComposer: BeethovenThe all-female Vertavo Quartet from Norway has gained a reputation among the most versatile of ensembles. Its members celebrate their 25th year together with, surprisingly, their very first Beethoven recording.The impact of their playing is very positive: expressive, spontaneous and ...
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ArticleChopin: Cello Sonata in G minor op.65, Piano Trio in G minor op.8, Grand Duo on themes from Meyerbeer’s ‘Robert le diable’
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Vilde Frang (violin), Andreas Brantelid (cello), Marianna Shirinyan (piano)Composer: Chopin For his second disc with EMI, rising Danish cello star Andreas Brantelid offers a convincing interpretation of Chopin’s Cello Sonata with Marianna Shirinyan. In the first movement he focuses on the music’s ...
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ArticleRode: 24 Caprices for solo violin
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Axel Strauss (violin)Composer: RodePaganini’s Caprices have long been seen as concert pieces, but Pierre Rode’s earlier set is still best known today as study material. This is not entirely fair. Admittedly, some of Rode’s pieces – such as no.14 with its emotional ...
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ArticleSibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor op.47, Humoresques nos.1, 2 & 5. Prokofiev: Violin Concerto no.1 in D major op.19
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Vilde Frang (violin) WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne/Thomas SøndergŠrdComposer: Sibelius,Prokofiev Even bearing in mind such timeless accounts of the Sibelius as those by Jascha Heifetz (RCA), Isaac Stern (Sony) and Christian Ferras (EMI DVD), Vilde Frang is just that extra ...
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ArticleStillness: Improvisations 2008
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Sixth Sense: Stephen Nachmanovitch (violin), Stephanie Phillips (viola, voice), Karlton Hester (flute, saxophone, synthesizer)Composer: VariousCollective improv trio Sixth Sense may be an occasional ensemble, but the players’ mutual understanding is finely tuned, resulting in an expressive spontaneity that survives the odd longueur.Most ...
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ArticleThe Cello’s Russian Voice. Glinka/Tchaikovsky/Rachmaninoff: Arrangements of songs
The Strad Issue: January 2010Musicians: Dmitry Ferschtman (cello), Mila Baslawskaja (piano)Composer: Glinka, Tchaikovsky, RachmaninoffIt’s not often that a CD booklet is as lavishly presented as this one, featuring colour reproductions of landscapes and portraits by Levitan, Zhukovsky and Repin in the booklet alongside the poetry of Tolstoy, ...
