Robin Stowell

Jan 10, 2025 | thestrad.com | Robin Stowell

A Beethoven cycle concludes with aplomb The Strad Issue: January 2025 Description: A Beethoven cycle concludes with aplomb Musicians: Gabriel Schwabe (cello) Nicholas Rimmer (piano) Works: Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello and Piano Volume 2: Sonatas nos.3–5; Variations on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ Catalogue number: NAXOS 8574530 These works fit conveniently into the three-period timeline traditionally associated with Beethoven’s composing career.

Nov 8, 2024 | thestrad.com | Robin Stowell

Robin Stowell reviews Babette Kaiserkern’s treatise on the Baroque composer’s life and works, translated into English for the first time Luigi Boccherini: Musica Amorosa Babette Kaiserkern English translation by Rhona Brose 284PP ISBN 9780995757462 KAHN & AVERILL £40 After several years of comparative neglect, Luigi Boccherini’s significant contribution to late 18th-century culture has gradually gained recognition since the late 1980s, due to the critical studies of, among others, Luigi della...

Oct 4, 2024 | thestrad.com | Robin Stowell

No lack of personality in these fine modern-instrument accounts The Strad Issue: October 2024 Description: No lack of personality in these fine modern-instrument accounts Musicians: Henrik Dam Thomsen (cello) Works: Bach: Six Cello Suites BWV1007–12 Catalogue number: OUR RECORDINGS 8.226921/2 (2 CDS) Danish cellist Henrik Dam Thomsen stands by his conventional late 20th-century training and standard ‘modern’ instrument (a 1680 Francesco Rugeri) and bow to deliver all six suites.

Sep 27, 2024 | thestrad.com | Robin Stowell

A foray into an Italian Baroque byway proves unenlightening The Strad Issue: October 2024 Description: A foray into an Italian Baroque byway proves unenlightening Musicians: Pierluigi Mencattini (violin) Labirinto Armonico Works: Giannotti: 12 Violin Sonatas op.1 Catalogue number: TACTUS TC690790 (2 CDs) Following their recording of Piani’s op.1 violin sonatas, Pierluigi Mencattini and Labirinto Armonico turn the spotlight on bassist/violinist Pietro Giannotti’s initial sonata set (1728),...

Aug 30, 2024 | thestrad.com | Robin Stowell

Robin Stowell appraises Guido Olivieri’s monograph on the great players of the mid-Italian city during the Enlightenment era String Virtuosi in Eighteenth-Century Naples: Culture, Power, and Music Institutions Guido Olivieri 296PP ISBN 9781009273671 Cambridge University Press £85  Guido Olivieri’s monograph breaks new ground by focusing on the instrumental, rather than the operatic activity of early 18th-century musicians in Naples.