All The Strad articles in Web Issue – Page 26
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ArticleHolbrooke: Violin Sonata no.3 in F major ‘Orientale’*. Walford Davies: Violin Sonata no.2 in D minor op.7*. Rootham: Violin Sonata in G minor*. Arthur Benjamin: Cello Sonatina†
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Jacqueline Roche (violin) Justin Pearson (cello) Robert Stevenson (piano)* Sophia Rahman (piano)† Composer: Holbrooke, Walford Davies, Rootham, Arthur BenjaminThis disc of rarities by little-known English composers is of mixed appeal but is for the most part very finely performed. Joseph Holbrooke’s Violin ...
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ArticleBate: Viola Concerto. Vaughan Williams: Romance (orch. Chase). Bell: Rosa mystica
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Roger Chase (viola) BBC Concert Orchestra, Stephen Bell (conductor) Composer: Bate, Vaughan Williams, BellWilliam Henry Bell’s Rosa mystica is a three-movement viola concerto written in 1916, after the composer had settled in Cape Town as director of the South ...
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ArticleSchmitt: Piano Quintet, Hasards
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Stanislas Quartet, Christian Ivaldi (piano)Composer: Schmitt One of Fauré’s most distinguished pupils, Florent Schmitt (1870–1958) was in many ways the ‘missing link’ in post-Romantic French music. Like his great teacher, Schmitt was not given to wearing his heart on ...
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ArticleOnslow: Violin Sonatas op.16
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Moderntimes_1800 Composer: OnslowGeorge Onslow’s three op.16 sonatas were composed in 1819 with the somewhat curious designation for fortepiano and violin or viola or cello. They exploit pre-Romantic features characteristic of Hummel, displaying surprising harmonic ingenuity and originality of content, and treating each ...
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BlogsHe's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy
Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory and violin makers more than most - especially one involving Stradivari. The story of the ‘Messiah’ violin is one of the best. The widely accepted version is that the 1716 instrument was one of those sold by Stradivari’s sons to Count ...
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Blogs
Tell us about your favourite lutherie books
In our April issue we asked some luthiers to discuss their favourite making books. The results were diverse, although several books proved to be particularly popular: Edward Heron-Allen's 'Violin-Making as it was, and is' and Simone Sacconi's 'The Secrets of Stradivari' were among them. What are your favourite lutherie books?
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BlogsEditor's blog: the ASTA conference
I'm just back home from a flying visit to Atlanta for the annual convention of the American String Teachers Association. I had a bumper time, fitting in as many of the sessions as I could as well as meeting lots of lovely people at The Strad stand. ...
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Blogs
Meet Sir Alan Stradivarius
Sir Alan Sugar might come out with strange musical similes but he has the potential to use his huge financial power wisely, says Catherine Payne
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ArticleBoni: Sonatas for cello and basso continuo op.1 nos.1–3 & 8–12
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Andrea FossÁ (cello) Renato Criscuolo (cello) Anna Fontana (harpsichord) Francisco Gato (archlute) Andrea de Carlo (viola da gamba)Composer: BoniBologna-born Pietro Gaetano Boni settled in Rome in 1711 and served as ‘cello virtuoso’ to Corelli’s patron Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, to whom his ...
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ArticleSoirés Internationales. Villa-Lobos: Ária from Bachianas brasileiras no.5 (arr. Primrose); O canto do capadócio, etc. Guarneri: Cello Sonata no.1. Nadia Boulanger: Trois pièces. Martinu: Cello Sonata
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Antonio Meneses (cello) Celina Szrvinsk (piano)Composer: Villa-Lobos, Guarneri, Nadia Boulanger, MartinuIn this enterprising release, which uses composers working in Paris as a focal point, Latin-American repertoire is persuasively represented by Villa-Lobos, whose penchant for lyrically hued Romanticism comes to the fore in ...
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ArticleTchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme op.33, Pezzo capriccioso in B minor op.62, Nocturne in D minor op.19 no.4. Shostakovich: Cello Concerto no.1 in E flat major op.107
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Zuill Bailey (cello) San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, MartinuWest (conductor)Composer: Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich The cello masterworks of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich demand very different playing styles. Although Zuill Bailey gives a technically stunning Rococo Variations, as soon as the Shostakovich opens you feel ...
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ArticleFrench Violin Sonatas. Saint-Saëns: Violin Sonata no.1 in D minor op.75. Ravel: Violin Sonata in G major. Fauré: Violin Sonata no.1 in A major op.13
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Antje Weithaas (violin) Silke Avenhaus (piano)Composer: Saint-Saëns, Ravel, FauréThe earliest of these three works comes from the musically passionate Romanticism of Gabriel Fauré, who was a pupil of Saint-Saëns. Fauré’s sonata is played here with a radiant excitement, and the outer movements ...
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ArticleMozart: Violin Concertos nos.1–5, Sinfonia concertante in E flat major K364
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Thomas Zehetmair (violin/director) Ruth Killius (viola) Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Franz Brüggen (conductor)Composer: Mozart These discs contain crisp performances delivered on period instruments, with the orchestra especially playing with commendable fastidiousness. Intonation is exemplary and the recording ...
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ArticleBartók: Violin Concerto no.2 in B minor. Shostakovich: Violin Concerto no.1 in A minor op.77
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Yossif Ivanov (violin) Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Pinchas Steinberg (conductor)Composer: Bartók, Shostakovich Bartók’s second is one of the most intractable of violin concertos. Its post-Romantic expressive intensity and cantabile gesturing appear to suggest an emotional kinship with the Glazunov or ...
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ArticleBeethoven: Violin Sonata in G major op.96. Dvorák: Romance in F minor op.11. Suk: Four Pieces op.17. Bartók: Rhapsody no.1
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Roman Pato?ka (violin) Frédéric Lagarde (piano)Composer: Beethoven, Dvorák, Suk, Bartók Czech violinist Roman Pato?ka (b.1981) bravely opens his recital with the most cryptic of Beethoven’s ten violin sonatas, a work that looks forward to the Elysian spirituality of the ...
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ArticleCello/Diverse. Debussy: Suite italienne. Debussy: Cello Sonata. Brahms: Cello Sonata no.2 in F major op.99. Morricone: Gabriel’s Oboe
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Susanne Beer (cello) Gareth Hancock (piano)Composer: Stravinsky, Debussy, Brahms, Morricone With an impressive roster of tutors listed on Susanne Beer’s biography, from Pergamenschikow and Pleeth to Isserlis and Gutman, coupled with a wide professional experience including the post ...
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ArticleBeethoven: String Quintets in E flat major op.4 & in C major op.29
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Nash EnsembleComposer: BeethovenThe first of Beethoven’s string quintets was adapted in 1795 from a wind octet he had written for local musicians back in his Bonn years. The second, his only original work in the medium, came six years later, ...
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ArticleBrahms: Violin Concerto in D minor op.77. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor op.64
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Ida Haendel (violin) Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra SWR, Hans Müller-Kray (conductor)Composer: Brahms, MendelssohnThese recordings, made in 1955 and 1953 respectively, are magisterial performances of profound intensity. In both of these concertos Ida Haendel’s playing is muscular. This comes across in ...
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ArticleBeach: Piano Quintet in F sharp minor op.67. Smith: Vignettes: Covered Wagon Woman
THE STRAD RECOMMENDSThe Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterComposer: Beach, Smith American composer Amy Beach’s main source of inspiration was middle-period Brahms. However, there is not the slightest hint of his Piano Quintet in her own 1907 contribution to ...
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ArticleSchubert: String Quartet in D minor D810 ‘Der Tod und das Mädchen’ (arr. Mahler), Gesang der Geister über den Wassern
The Strad Issue: January 2009Musicians: Academia Allegro Vivo, Vienna Chamber Choir, Bijan Khadem-Missagh (conductor) Composer: SchubertGustav Mahler came in for quite a bit of stick when he arranged Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ Quartet for string orchestra. After a performance of the variations movement ...
