Volume 21 Issue 1 - September 2015

The Franck Sonata is the centrepiece of the CD, and again it’s the
tonal quality of the violin playing that makes the biggest impression.
Hiratsuka gives perhaps a bit less weight to the piano part in
the opening movement, and there seems to be less turbulence and
urgency in the second movement than on the Ehnes/Armstrong CD,
but this is still a strong, musical and highly enjoyable performance.
There have been several recordings of the
very effective string trio transcription by
violinist Dmitri Sitkovetsky of Bach’s Goldberg
Variations, and now the Bach/Gould Project,
the debut CD by America’s Catalyst Quartet,
gives us an equally effective and satisfying
arrangement for string quartet (Azica
ACD-71300).
It took the quartet members a year and a half to produce their own
transcription, and it’s a quite stunning achievement, with a rich,
warm sound right from the opening Aria and some beautifully judged
phrasing and dynamics. The up-tempo sections don’t have quite the
ferocity of Glenn Gould’s approach, but there is the same exuberance
and sense of sheer joy that pervades Gould’s recordings.
The decision to include Glenn Gould’s String Quartet Op.1 was a
smart one. Gould wrote the work in the mid-1950s while preparing
for his debut recording of the Goldberg Variations, the work that
marked the beginning and the end of his recording career; not
surprisingly, perhaps, it is a rich, complex single-movement quartet
highly reminiscent of early Schoenberg but – as the notes point out –
showing the influence of German composers from Strauss and Wagner
right back to Bach. What may be surprising is that it is full of truly
idiomatic string writing, with a great deal of contrapuntal voicing (no
surprise there!) that is handled with great skill. It’s so much more
than just a competent work or an odd curiosity, and really deserves to
be heard more frequently.
A short video about the Bach/Gould Project is available on the quartet’s
website and on YouTube.
Česko is another terrific string quartet CD,
this time featuring the young – and all-female
– British/Dutch ensemble the Ragazze Quartet
in a program of works by the Czech composers
Antonín Dvořák and Erwin Schulhoff
(Channel Classics CCS SA 36815).
Schulhoff died of tuberculosis in Wülzburg
concentration camp in 1942 at the age of 48.
His String Quartet No.1 is a short but fascinating four-movement work
from 1924, and very much a work of its time. Schulhoff’s real passion
for the jazz dance forms of the 1920s is reflected in his 6 Esquisses de
jazz from 1927, a piano work arranged for string quartet here by the
Dutch composer Leonard Evers. The six pieces – Rag; Boston; Tango;
Blues; Black Bottom; and Charleston – are short but entertaining.
The central work on the disc is Dvořák’s String Quartet No.13 in
G Major Op.106, which has been in the quartet’s repertoire since
their student days. It’s a glorious work, and their familiarity with
and affection for the music is clear in the lovely sweeping start and
the passion and dynamic range in their playing. In their booklet
notes the players refer to Dvořák’s “beautiful singing melodies, warm
harmonies and Czech passion.” Their performance here shows how
well they have taken these qualities to heart.
There’s even more great string quartet
playing on Mozart – The 6 String Quartets
dedicated to Haydn, a 3CD box set featuring
the Quatuor Cambini-Paris (naïve AM213).
The packaging adds “on period instruments”
after the quartet’s name; since the ensemble
was founded in 2007 the performers have
been playing and recording on period instruments
with gut strings and authentic bows,
and if you ever needed any evidence of just how satisfying “historically
informed” performances can be, here it is.
The six quartets themselves – numbers 14 through 19, and including
the Spring, Hunt and Dissonance quartets – are simply sublime, and
the warmth and sensitivity of the interpretations here display them in
all their glory. The closeness of the recording means that some extraneous
breathing noises are audible at times, but never to the point of
distraction.
These are performances that come from the heart and speak to the
soul; there wasn’t a single moment when I could imagine these works
being played any other way. Add the absolutely terrific booklet notes
and this is a set to treasure.
The terrific Jennifer Koh is back with Bach
and Beyond Part 2 (Cedille CDR 90000 154),
the second of a three-part series of recital
programs that Koh initiated in 2009 to explore
the history of solo violin works from Bach to
the present day. Each recital features two of
the Bach Sonatas & Partitas paired with solo
compositions from the subsequent centuries.
Part 1 was reviewed in depth in this column
in May 2013. This current issue pairs the Sonata No.1 in G Minor and
the Partita No.1 in B Minor of Bach with the Sonata for Solo Violin by
Béla Bartók and Frises, a work for solo violin and electronics written
in 2011 by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho.
Koh, as always, is superb, her intelligence and interpretation always
matching her outstanding technique.
The third and final program of the series will apparently pair the
remaining two Bach works with Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VIII and
the world premiere of John Harbison’s For
Violin Alone.
The new Alina Ibragimova CD of the Six
Sonatas for Solo Violin by Eugène Ysaÿe
(Hyperion CDA67993) is another simply
outstanding solo disc. This is the fifth CD of
these amazing works that I have received in
the past four years or so, and Ibragimova’s is
Philip Glass: Violin Concerto No. 2
“The American Four Seasons”
Gidon Kremer
Kremer returns to DG after
more than a decade, his first solo
concerto album in many years
Pas de Deux
Mari and Håkon Samuelsen
The world premiere recording Pas
de Deux by the late James Horner,
written especially for the sister/
brother team, Mari and Håkon
Samuelsen.
ZOFO – pianists Eva-Maria
Zimmermann and Keisuke
Nakagoshi – is at it again with an
all-Terry Riley album that includes
original compositions, arrangements
and a commission.
First published in 1720, Handel’s
‘eight great suites’, immensely
popular in their time, contain some
of Handel’s most beautiful music.
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