All The Strad articles in Web Issue – Page 124
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ArticleRemainder of Minnesota Orchestra's 2012–13 season cancelled
The management of the Minnesota Orchestra has announced that the remaining five concerts of the current season have been cancelled. This means that the musicians, who have been locked out since 1 October 2012, will have played none of the scheduled concerts by the end of the 2012–13 ...
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ArticleRemainder of Minnesota Orchestra's 2012–13 season is cancelled
The management of the Minnesota Orchestra has announced that the remaining five concerts of the current season have been cancelled. This means that the musicians, who have been locked out since 1 October 2012, will have played none of the scheduled concerts by the end of the ...
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ReviewRavel: Violin Sonata in G major, Violin Sonata (1897), Sonata for violin & cello, Pièce en forme de habanera, Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré, Kaddish, Tzigane
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Reference accounts of Ravel’s complete chamber music for violinMusicians: Lena Neudauer (violin) Julian Steckel (cello) Paul Rivinius (piano)Composer: RavelThe young German-born violinist Lena Neudauer has here laid down what is my new benchmark for recorded performances of the two Ravel ...
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ArticleZukerman and Perlman in action
Violin€“viola dream team performs the Handel€“Halvorsen Passacaglia
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ReviewIn the Shadow of War. Bloch: Schelomo. Bridge: Oration. Hough: The Loneliest Wilderness
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: An inspired programme, searingly playedMusicians: Steven Isserlis (cello) German Symphony Orchestra Berlin/Hugh Wolff, Tapiola Sinfonietta/Gábor Takács-NagyComposer: Bloch, Bridge, HoughSteven Isserlis is nothing if not thoughtful and creative when it comes to programming, as this combination of three works linked by the psychological ...
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ReviewDvorák: Cypresses, String Quartet in G major op.106
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Technically exemplary accounts that miss a Czech authenticityMusicians: Cypress QuartetComposer: DvorákWith their trenchant response to the opening bars of Dvorák’s op.106, the players of the Cypress Quartet emphatically announce a very purposeful performance of dynamic extremes. The care taken over internal balance ...
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ArticleBow maker Garner Wilson dies aged 68
British bow maker Garner Wilson has died at the age of 68 after a long battle with cancer. Born in 1944, he began his career at W.E. Hill & Sons, where he worked as a bow maker from 1960 to 1966. He later opened his own workshop in ...
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ArticleDouble bass teacher arrested in Manchester music schools abuse investigation
Duncan McTier, a double bass professor at London's Royal Academy of Music, was arrested on Friday 10 May by police investigating sexual abuse at top music schools in Manchester, UK. McTier, 58, was questioned in connection with an alleged indecent assault of a 21-year-old female student ...
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DebateFear of a blank page
There's nothing stopping string players from commissioning their own works, argues cellist David Cohen – apart from their own reluctance
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ArticleLouis Kaufman plays Vivaldi
Louis Kaufman, born on 10 May 1905, almost single-handedly brought Vivaldi back into the limelight with his 1947 recording of The Four Seasons. Winner of the Grand Prix du Disque in 1950, it also provoked a surge of interest in Baroque playing; Kaufman commented on the current ...
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ReviewProkofiev: String quartets no.1 op.50 & no.2 op.92, Visions fugitives op.22 (arr. Samsonov)
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Electrifying performances that tap the music’s inventivenessMusicians: Energie Nove QuartetComposer: ProkofievProkofiev’s quartets have tended to remain on the outer fringes of the central performing repertoire: a consequence of his wide-ranging stylistic terms of reference, dazzlingly hyperactive changes of musical direction and intimidating ...
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ReviewDebussy: String Quartet in G minor. Saint-Saëns: String Quartet no.1 in E minor. Ravel: String Quartet in F major
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A welcome interloper freshens up a classic quartet couplingMusicians: Modigliani QuartetComposer: Debussy, Saint-Saëns, RavelRadiantly engineered and tonally beguiling, these are performances that generate pleasure simply because of the sound they make. Some ensembles audibly struggle to shift their textural emphasis from the ...
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ReviewGerhard: String quartets nos.1 & 2, Chaconne for solo violin
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: Serialism meets folk music in the works of a Spanish exileMusicians: Arditti QuartetComposer: GerhardBorn in Spain in 1896, Roberto Gerhard became Schoenberg’s only Spanish student, later fleeing his homeland at the start of the Civil War to settle in Cambridge and become ...
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ReviewSchumann: Cello Concerto in A minor op.129. Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor op.104, Silent Woods op.68 no.5
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: An unsatisfactory coupling of two Romantic concertosMusicians: Jamie Walton (cello) Philharmonia Orchestra/Vladimir AshkenazyComposer: Schumann, DvorákSchumann’s Cello Concerto is a notoriously difficult work to navigate, as the ebb and flow of the musical line can lack overall direction, which is to my mind ...
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ArticleChristie's quits instrument auctions for private sales
Christie's has become the latest major auction house to abandon musical instrument auctions. In a similar move to that made by Sotheby's in London at the end of 2012, the New York-based instruments arm of Christie's has shifted all its activities to private sales. The head ...
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ArticleSchumann Quartet takes grand prize at Bordeaux competition
The Cologne-based Schumann Quartet has won the €20,000 grand prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. The group comprises three brothers – violinists Erik and Ken and cellist Mark Schumann – and violist Liisa Randalu. Second prize in the competition went to the Ellipse Quartet from ...
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ArticleViolinists and string quartet receive 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grants
Two violinists and a string quartet are among the five recipients of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grants. The awards, administered by the Avery Fisher Artist Program, are worth $25,000 apiece and are designed to help young musicians build careers. Bulgarian-born violinist Bella Hristova (pictured) has ...
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ArticleHindemith performs his own String Quartet op.22
Our focus on the viola continues with this recording of the great violist and composer Paul Hindemith performing his String Quartet op.22 as part of his own Amar Quartet Download the viola-themed May issue of The Strad here.
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ReviewMendelssohn: Violin Concertos in D minor & E minor op.64, Violin Sonata in F minor op.4
The Strad Issue: January 2013Description: A rare coupling of Mendelssohn’s two violin concertosMusicians: Tianwa Yang (violin) Romain Descharmes (piano) Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä/Patrick GalloisComposer: MendelssohnIn certain respects, the Mendelssohn E minor Concerto is the most demanding of all the great violin concertos. Everything must sound entirely effortless, with ...
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ArticleSeattle Symphony players agree new two-year contract with management
The musicians of the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera have agreed to ratify a new contract. Effective until 31 August 2015, the agreement stipulates cuts in salaries and healthcare benefits, although pension benefits will increase by ten per cent over three years. The new contract calls ...
