All The Strad articles in Web Issue – Page 19
-
ArticleBaltzar: Complete works for unaccompanied violin
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Patrick Wood (violin)Composer: Baltzar British violin playing displayed few indigenous traits in the 17th century. It was influenced instead by Lullian French court music and foreign violinists such as German-born Thomas Baltzar (c.1631–63), who arrived in England (1656), ...
-
ArticleThe Violin Virtuoso Collection. Works by Sarasate, Wieniawski, Bloch, Saint-Saëns & Paganini
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Franco Mezzena (violin) Maria Conti Gallenti (piano)Composer: Sarasate, Wieniawski, Bloch, Saint-Saëns & PaganiniTo present an album of virtuoso showstoppers by Sarasate, Wieniawski, Saint-Saëns et al – especially one with such well-worn favourites as the Carmen Fantasy, Scherzo–Tarantelle and Havanaise – is to ...
-
ArticleMartinu: Suite concertante (first & second versions), Rhapsody–Concerto
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Bohuslav Matoušek (violin/viola) Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood (conductor)Composer: Martinu Martinu is a composer whose versatility never ceases to surprise, even though (like Hindemith) he is sometimes unfairly spurned as being over-productive, stylistically disparate and lacking the distinct idiom of ...
-
ArticleDutilleux: Violin Concerto ‘L’arbre des songes’. Debussy: La mer. Ravel: La valse
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Dmitry Sitkovetsky (violin) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (conductor)Composer: Dutilleux, Debussy, Ravel Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto L’arbre des songes has been quite well served on disc since Isaac Stern gave the world premiere in 1985. This latest recording demonstrates ...
-
ArticleLachenmann: Gran Torso, Reigen der Seliger Geister, Grido
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Arditti String QuartetComposer: Lachenmann True to form, Helmut Lachenmann treats not only the players but their instruments as physical, living bodies. These pieces of wood breathe, chatter, fart, snore and sigh in a soap opera of musical personalities scraping ...
-
ArticleLiquid Metal Dreaming
Musicians: Laurie Scott Baker (double bass/electric upright bass/percussion) Robert Evans (crwth, tambura, lyre, fiddle, voice)Composer: VariousThe prospect of listening to over an hour of double bass music (adorned with an unlikely array of percussion, lyres and vocal harmonics), played entirely on open strings or using natural harmonics, filled ...
-
ArticleLudi fecundus
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Stephen Nachmanovitch (electric violin)Composer: Nachmanovitch ‘Ludi fecundus’ – Latin for ‘fertile play’ or ‘the game that creates the world’– comprises short improvisations inspired by creation myths. Stephen Nachmanovitch, a published author and lecturer in improvisation across the arts, has ...
-
ArticleFeldman: The Viola in My Life I-IV
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Marek Konstantinowicz (viola) Cikada Ensemble, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Christian Eggen (conductor)Composer: Feldman The comparison is often made between Morton Feldman’s large spaces of sound nearing silence and the washy canvases of his friend Mark Rothko, but the ...
-
BlogsAriane Todes, editor of The Strad, is inspired by some nifty mandolin playing
As I’m currently trying to teach myself the mandolin I seized the opportunity last night to see Chris Thile (fastest mandolin player in the West) and his Bluegrass band, the Punch Brothers, at London’s Arts Theatre. Thile is a slightly kooky-looking version of Jude Law, but ...
-
BlogsA night of folk music at the Proms
Ariane Todes: The BBC Proms are well underway and on Sunday I went to my first this year, to see Bellowhead, one of my favourite bands. I saw Bellowhead for the first time in 2006, a gig which drove me to my current folk music obsession. The ...
-
ArticleDohnányi: Violin Concertos no.1 in D minor op.27 & no.2 in C minor op.43
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Michael Ludwig (violin) Royal Scottish National Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta (conductor)Composer: DohnányiErno Dohnányi (1877–1960) suffered an eclipse after his death, ceding place in his native Hungary to Bartók and Kodály, and (except for his popular Nursery Variations) less of a platform performer after ...
-
ArticleFauré: Cello Sonatas nos.1 & 2, Après un rêve, Papillon, Sicilienne, Romance, Berceuse, Sérénade
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Maria Kliegel (cello) Nina Tichman (piano)Composer: Fauré The relative rarity of Fauré’s cello sonatas in recitals is possibly connected with their dark character, the first written during the First World War, the second in 1921 near the end of ...
-
ArticleHaydn: Violin Concertos in C major Hob.VIIa:1, A major Hob.VIIa:3 and G major Hob.VIIa:4
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Augustin Hadelich (violin) Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Müller-Brühl (conductor) Composer: Haydn2006 Indianapolis Competition victor Augustin Hadelich gives impressive accounts of Haydn’s three surviving violin concertos. Although there is plenty for advocates of period performance to baulk at, not least ...
-
ArticleHindemith: Viola Sonatas op.11 no.4 & op.25 no.4, Solo Viola Sonatas op.11 no.5 & op.25 no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Michael Zaretsky (viola) Xak Bjerken (piano) Composer: HindemithPaul Hindemith wrote all his viola music for his own use during his years as a soloist. The earliest piece is one of the most popular: the Sonata for viola and piano ...
-
ArticleBartók: Violin Sonatas nos.1 & 2, Rhapsodies nos.1 & 2
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Georgy Valtchev (violin) Lora Tchekoratova (piano)Composer: BartókOn an interpretative level, this Bulgarian husband-and-wife team makes a first-rate duo. I find the distaff side of the partnership more consistent but there is no doubt that Georgy Valtchev and Lora Tchekoratova know Bartók’s music ...
-
ArticleMendelssohn: Octet in E flat major op.20, String Symphony no.10 in B minor
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: London Concertante Composer: MendelssohnI suspect the Mendelssohn Octet is a repertoire piece for London Concertante. At any rate, the players handle all its aspects with aplomb and I enjoyed their reading very much. What is more, they are excellently ...
-
ArticleHindemith: Sonata for double bass and piano. Frank Proto: Sonata ‘1963’. Armando Trovajoli: Sconcerto
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Jens Bomhardt (double bass) Roberto Paruzzo (piano) Composer: Hindemith, Frank Proto, Armando TrovajoliJens Bomhardt gives an alluring account of Hindemith’s late Double Bass Sonata, gracefully despatching the first two short movements, the Allegretto and Scherzo, before embarking on the ...
-
ArticleBrahms: 21 Hungarian Dances (arr. Joachim). Joachim: Variations in E minor
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Hagai Shaham (violin) Arnon Erez (piano)Composer: Brahms, Joachim The most important work here is the one advertised in smaller type on the cover, Joachim’s E minor Variations, a magnificent assemblge of an introduction, a theme and 18 brief variations ...
-
ArticleHommage Á Eugène Ysaÿe. Ysaÿe: Solo Violin Sonatas op.27, Sonata for two violins, Variations sur le 24e Caprice de Paganini, Caprice d’après l’étude en forme de valse, Exil!
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Ingolf Turban (violin) Kolja Lessing (violin/piano) I virtuosi di PaganiniComposer: YsaÿeThe six unaccompanied sonatas which Ysaÿe dedicated to violinist friends form the backbone of this interesting compilation, which marks the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. They alternate with piano-accompanied pieces and ...
-
ArticleElgar: Violin Sonata in E minor op.82, Serenade (arr. Szigeti), Adieu (arr. Szigeti). Grieg: Violin Sonata no.3 in C minor op.43 no.3, Two Brown Eyes, You Cannot Grasp the Waves’ Eternal Course
The Strad Issue: January 2008Musicians: Charlie Siem (violin), Andrei Korobeinikov (piano)Composer: Elgar, GriegIn his fine booklet note, Charlie Siem draws interesting parallels between Grieg and Elgar, who composed the violin sonatas in this recital during what might be termed their respective ‘late’ periods. This appears to have ...
