Spanish Works for String Orchestra

Advantages: Light, clear, could be played over and again
Disadvantages: Perhaps lacks a bit of magic or sparkle

...If I was to think of performers I would choose to play my favourite pieces of music, then I would not readily think of the Oregon Bach Festival Chamber Orchestra. But a friend of mine who played in the orchestra tipped me off that this was a good one. So I got hold of the CD, opened a bottle of red and sat back with an open mind. Surprise surprise, it's good. Enthusiastic playing for sure, with plenty of joie de vivre. The typical American attention to detail slightly grates with my British sense of spontaneity, but the flawless phrasing, breathing (and no doubt bowing too) and dynamics work in the overall performances because of the lack of indulgence in the tempi. Bach can all too easily sound like a mathematical exercise written out in notes, but there is a lightness and deftness of touch here in the conducting that lifts this out... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: It is simply one of the finest pieces of music ever written
Disadvantages: How dare you ask of any disadvantges!?!

...a melody in 9/8 time. In May, Elgar, his wife Alice, and daughter Carice went to their summer residence of Brinkwells, a cottage in Sussex, for some rural relaxation and healing (Elgar loved the countryside). Finally, in August, he suddenly was attacked by a great surge of creativity. He had his piano taken out of storage and wrote a Violin Sonata in E minor, Op.82, which was soon followed by the String Quartet in E minor, Op.83 and Piano Quintet in A minor, Op.84. This sudden surge showed a new streak of creative development in Elgar's music that was more elusive, economical and a million miles away from his bombastic past. The three works were premiered in May 1919, after which Elgar set out on his great summation of this new style (as well as career): the Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85. There is not much documentation of the work... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Mutter's eloquence and sensitivity in older recording are enhanced here.
Disadvantages: None at all!

..., especially those lovely intricacies in melody and time signature. Surprises await you in the rapid, unpredictable shifts in tempo and the occasional key change. Sweet, languid notes alternate with harsh ones. Seemingly chaotic at first, the work’s profound beauty reveals itself only over time. Running to twenty-two minutes, the first movement is long for a concerto, but the soloist gets a little break midway through. Mutter plays Joseph Joaquim’s cadenza (violin solo), entering with stirring passages that end on a high note held across several bars. Just when you think it has reached the summit, the violin dares to go even further, now more passionate and rapturous than ever, as the orchestra picks up the theme and proceeds to sound the closing chords. Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate scoffed at the manner in which the second movement opens... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful