Volume 28 Issue 4 | February - March 2023

prominent, the lengthy first movement cadenza being a transcription
of the one (with timpani) that Beethoven wrote for his own piano
transcription of the concerto.
Stravinsky’s spiky and neoclassical Violin Concerto in D Major Op.8
isn’t heard as often as it should be, the performance here underlining
what we’re missing. It’s full of life and never merely academic, with
an emotionally deep Aria II third movement.
Frang started studying both concertos at the same time in her teens,
always feeling some sort of relation between the two. Certainly they
make an ideal pairing on an outstanding CD.
With Schumann: The Three Violin Sonatas
violinist Andrew Wan and pianist Charles
Richard-Hamelin continue the partnership
that gave us the recent outstanding
3CD set of the complete Beethoven sonatas
(Analekta AN 2 9003 analekta.com/en).
The Violin Sonatas No.1 in A Minor
Op.105 and No.2 in D Minor Op.121 are from
1851, written at the suggestion of violinist
Ferdinand David. The Violin Sonata No.3 in A Minor WoO27 incorporates
the two movements Schumann contributed to the F-A-E sonata,
the 1853 collaboration with Brahms and Albert Dietrich that was a gift
for Joseph Joachim, Schumann adding a first movement and a scherzo
to complete an original third sonata.
Effortlessly beautiful playing from both performers coupled with
exemplary recording quality makes for another outstanding release.
Concert note: Mooredale Concerts presents Andrew Wan and Charles
Richard-Hamelin in works by Schumann, Medtner and Franck,
Sunday February 12, at Walter Hall.
From one outstanding duo release to
another: Shostakovich Rachmaninoff
Sonatas for Cello & Piano finds cellist
Carmine Miranda and pianist Robert Marler
in superb form in two of the great cello
sonatas (Navona NV6475 navonarecords.
com/catalog/nv6475).
Miranda’s deep, rich cello and Marler’s
clear, warm piano, perfectly balanced and
beautifully recorded, immediately promise great things – and boy,
do they deliver! Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D Minor Op.40 from
1934 is described as a lyrical, classical work, but it still has the painridden
slow movement and frantic fast movements so typical of his
later works.
The Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata in G Minor Op.19 from 1901 is a big
Romantic work that requires a big technique from both players, its
third movement Andante surely one of the most glorious movements
ever written. It’s hard to imagine a more gorgeous performance than
this one.
Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and
pianist Fazil Say have been playing together
as a duo since 2004, and the close nature of
their musical relationship is clearly evident
in the three sonatas on Janáček Brahms
Bartók (Alpha Classics ALPHA885 outheremusic.com/en/classical-music-shop/
latest-releases).
The Janáček and Bartók sonatas were both
completed in 1921, and both show the influence of folk music on the
two composers. The Brahms work is the last of his three, the Sonata
No.3 in D Minor, Op.108, completed in 1888.
Kopatchinskaja has a clear, bright tone that can sound quite light
at times without ever losing strength, and the ease with which she
handles the technical demands never lacks depth and conviction. Say
is an equal partner in all respects on an excellent disc.
Xuefei Yang was the first Chinese guitarist to study at London’s Royal
Academy of Music, and the first to launch a worldwide professional
career. Guitar Favourites, her latest CD,
reviews her 35 years with the guitar,
returning to the quintessential guitar music
that first drew her under its spell (Decca 485
8195 xuefeiyang.com).
Her technique is flawless and apparently
effortless, but it’s what she does
with it that makes this such a remarkable
disc; the clarity, definition, dynamics
and flowing, flexible phrasing making even the most familiar pieces
sound fresh. Works include Albéniz’s Asturias, Tárrega’s Recuerdos
de la Alhambra (with rubato!) and Capricho Árabe, Sor’s Variations
on a Theme by Mozart Op.9, four pieces by Augustín Barrios Mangoré
including the three-part La Catedral, Yang’s own Xinjiang Fantasy,
the first recording of When the Birds Return by guitarist John
Williams and single pieces by Rodrigo, Lauro and Villa-Lobos.
A gorgeous arrangement of Danny Boy completes a stunning
recital.
A composition by the British pianist
Stephen Hough opens Hough, Dutilleux
& Ravel String Quartets, the latest CD
from the Takács Quartet (Hyperion
CDA68400 hyperion-records.co.uk/
dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68400).
Hough’s six-part String Quartet No.1, “Les
Six rencontres” was written in 2021 specifically
as a companion piece to the Dutilleux
and Ravel works. It’s extremely attractive, finely crafted and idiomatic
writing, dedicated to the Takács Quartet and given what must be a
definitive performance here.
Henri Dutilleux’s Ainsi la nuit from 1973-76 began as a group of
short studies in sonority, the seven linked sections creating fascinating
effects and tonal colours. Again, there’s superbly controlled and
nuanced playing from the quartet.
A dazzling reading of Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major from
1902-03 completes a terrific CD.
2022 saw the Tippett Quartet mark
their 25th anniversary year and the
150th anniversary of Vaughan Williams’
birth with Ralph Vaughan Williams
& Gustav Holst String Quartets
(SOMM Recordings SOMMCD 0656
somm-recordings.com/recording/
vaughan-williams-holst-string-quartets).
Vaughan Williams spent the year 1907-08
Rosebud String Quartet’s new album, Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart
K. 614, is out now! Bringing together three great works
by masters of Viennese classicism, Mozart and Haydn, the
Rosebud String Quartet’s remarkable chemistry and depth
bring these compositions to life.
Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614 is available
on all major streaming platforms!
www.leaf-music.ca
www.rosebudquartet.com
thewholenote.com February & March, 2023 | 49