Author Archive: nick
Reviews for our Elgar & Sawyers CD…
Here are the critics’ thoughts on our first CD release: [quote]The Steinberg Duo prove passionately committed advocates not only of Sawyer’s works but of the Elgar too…It is good to welcome two works to the repertory that deserve to be widely performed. [/quote] Edward Greenfield, Gramophone Magazine, December 2013?[hr] [quote]Rarely does a recording exude so […]
Continue readingJohn Ireland Violin Sonata No.2 in A minor
Violin Sonata No.2 in A minor (1917) – John Ireland I Allegro II Poco lento quasi adagio III In tempo moderato – Con brio ?I am not one of those composers who feels anxious, or indeed able to talk about his own music. Whatever I have to say is said in the music, and if […]
Continue readingBBC Radio 3 In Tune appearance
On Thursday 5 December we will be?appearing on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune programme (1630-1830), performing works from our recent CD and discussing our upcoming performance at Blackheath Halls. Click here for more details
Continue readingNotes of a different kind
Over the last 8 weeks we have been editing our recording, listening and re-listening, trying the hifi, headphones, even the car to see how our performances come across over a wide range of devices. Over those three days in Banff we were absolutely determined to find the magic take of every bar and now the […]
Continue readingWorld Premiere Pressure!
This week we are giving the world premiere of a beautiful set of Lullabies by contemporary Czech composer Pavel (Zemek) Novak at the 1901 Arts Club on London’s Southbank. Performing any piece for the first time is always slightly unnerving, but giving a work its premiere is an altogether more daunting experience. I feel the […]
Continue readingUnder the microscope
Many, many apologies for the silence over the last two weeks, perhaps inevitably once the recording drew near, our heads went down and we focused entirely on our playing. We are now back at home after an incredible four weeks and we of course want to bring you up to date on the rest of […]
Continue readingJan??ek Violin Sonata
Con moto Ballada: Con moto Allegretto Adagio Like many of his countrymen composers, Jan??ek was fascinated by the raw and immediate emotional intensity of traditional folk music. He became an avid ethnomusicologist and was particularly interested in the speech patterns of native dialects around Moravia. His music shares this raw, blunt and brutal intensity, suddenly […]
Continue readingSuk Four Pieces, Op.17
Quasi Ballada Appassionato Un poco triste Burleska Composer and violinist Josef Suk was one of Dvo??k’s favourite pupils and the two men were very close, not least after Suk married Dvo??k’s eldest daughter Otilie in 1898. An accomplished performer, Suk played second violin in the Czech Quartet for the majority of his career. Indeed it […]
Continue readingDvo??k Ballade, Op.15
Written late in 1884 shortly after he completed his Seventh Symphony, the Ballade was written for a Christmas edition of the London Magazine of Music. Written in the brooding key of D minor it is another example of Dvo??k’s genius in devising small scale works of incredible emotional depth. The outer sections are characterised the […]
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