Volume 26 Issue 6 - March and April 2021

accompanied by her regular recital partner Francesca Leonardi in a
program of works that pay homage to the famous virtuoso (Chandos
CHAN 20223 chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2020223).
Four of the works here are for solo violin: Kreisler’s Recitativo and
Scherzo-Caprice; John Corigliano’s The Red Violin Caprices; Carlo
Boccadoro’s Come d’autunno; and Schnittke’s tough and quite abrasive
A Paganini.
The works with piano are Clochette (Kreisler’s arrangement of La
Campanella), Rossini’s Un mot à Paganini, and two works, in
particular, that showcase the instrument’s glorious singing quality:
Boccadoro’s arrangement of Paganini’s Cantabile and Szymanowski’s
Trois Caprices de Paganini. The sweeping melodic phrases, the sweetness
and strength in the highest register and the crystal-clear
harmonics in these settings of Caprices Nos. 20, 21 and 24 complete a
dazzling CD.
With Franz Schubert Music for Violin II
violinist Ariadne Daskalakis and Paolo
Giacometti, on fortepiano, complete their
survey of Schubert’s music for violin using a
historical approach aimed at understanding
the framework of Schubert’s time (BIS-
2373 bis.se).
The Rondo in B Minor Op.70 D895
“Rondeau brillant” from 1826 provides a
strong opening to the disc, bringing appropriately bright and clear
playing from Daskalakis, the full recorded resonance allowing the
fortepiano to sound warm and not at all dry.
Two of the three Sonatas Op.137 from 1816 (published by Diabelli
in 1836 as Sonatinas) are here, No.1 in D Major D384 and No.2 in
A Minor D385 drawing terrific playing from both performers, with
lovely definition and dynamics in the former and very effective
passages in the latter where Daskalakis uses no vibrato. The Duo
Sonata in A Major Op.162 D574 from 1817 completes a fascinating CD,
full of expansive, visceral music-making.
The fortepiano is by Salvatore Lagrassa from around 1815, so exactly
contemporary with the music here, and the violin is a 1754
Guadagnini with gut strings and a classical bridge. The instruments
are tuned to 430 Hz.
Two instruments from the Paris Musée de
la musique provide a fascinating sound
on Beethoven Cello Sonatas Op.5, with
Raphaël Pidoux playing a 1734 cello by
Pietro Guarneri of Venice and Tanguy de
Williencourt playing an 1855 piano by
Carl Gulius Gebauhr (Harmonia Mundi
HMM 902410 store.harmoniamundi.com/
format/635912-beethoven-cello-sonatas-op-5).
Both sonatas – No.1 in F Major and No.2 in G Minor – have no slow
movement, the two-movement form in each being essentially Adagio
– Allegro and Rondo – Allegro. Dedicated to Frederick William II, King
of Prussia (himself an accomplished cellist), they were written in 1796
when Beethoven was in Berlin. Despite being published by Artaria in
1797 as sonatas for keyboard “with an obligato cello” they are the first
duos to treat both instruments equally, the booklet essay noting their
“brilliant writing, ambition and ample dimensions.”
Two works inspired by Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte complete the disc:
Beethoven’s 1801 Seven Variations on “Bei Männern welche Liebe
fühlen” WoO46 and the Nocturne “Souvenirs de la Flûte enchantée”
from 1825 by pianist Camille Pleyel and cellist Charles-
Nicolas Baudiot.
The London Haydn Quartet reaches volume
nine in its ongoing set of the complete
string quartets of Joseph Haydn with Haydn
String Quartets Op.76, a 2CD set priced as a
single disc (Hyperion CDA 68335 hyperionrecords.co.uk/a.asp?a=A1711).
The six quartets – No. 1 in G Major,
No.2 in D Minor “Fifths,” No.3 in C Major
“Emperor,” No.4 in B-flat Major “Sunrise,”
No.5 in D Major “Largo” and No.6 in E-flat Major – date from 1797
when Haydn was at the height of his creative powers in his string
quartet writing; “no set of 18th century string quartets,” notes the
excellent booklet essay, “is so wide-ranging in expression, or so heedless
of the structural norms of the time.
Using the 1799 editions published by Longman, Clementi & Co. of
London and Artaria of Vienna, the players show the same outstanding
qualities – the faultless intonation on gut strings, the range of nuances
and dynamics, the perfect ensemble feel – that have resulted in this
series of quite superb period performances garnering rave reviews.
The Haydn “Fifths” quartet also turns up on
Haydn – Bartók – Mozart, the new CD from
the Quatuor Modigliani that features three
works that each bear witness to a turning
point in the lives of their composers and
the advent of new horizons (Mirare MIR506
en.modiglianiquartet.com).
Haydn’s String Quartet in D Minor Op.76
No.2 was written when he was free from
his service at the Esterházy estate and was the toast of Vienna after
his two hugely successful trips to England. The opening tempo is
markedly faster than on The London Haydn Quartet CD, but even
with the accent more on lightness and clarity there’s no lack of
What we're listening to this month:
thewholenote.com/listening
Star Maker Fragments
TAK ensemble & Taylor Brook
TAK’s Star Maker Fragments is
a winding interstellar journey
through shifting consciousness,
exploratory physics, and strangely
familiar societies told through
mesmerizing microtonal tableaus.
Tapeo
Cameron Crozman; Philip Chiu
Spanish music is the focus of
Tapeo, a new recording by cellist
Cameron Crozman and pianist
Philip Chiu.
Michelangelo's Madrigal
Kate Macoboy, soprano;
Robert Meunier, lute
‘Michelangelo’s Madrigal’, Track 11,
is the first known publication of his
poetry, with a setting by Lucrezia
Borgia’s musician, Tromboncino.
Rising w/ The Crossing
The Crossing
The Philadelphia based
contemporary vocal ensemble
offers hope amidst a pandemic and
a journey through the ensemble's
projects over the last several years.
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