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Strings Magazine Reviews "The Entertainers" |
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Applying relentless energy, razor-sharp virtuosity, and a great sense
of fun... Kurti and Uzur have created
a treasury of irresistible encore items. Their sumptuous performances... are enhanced by a larger-than-life recording that sounds fabulous at
virtually any volume level.
The Entertainers. Andrej Kurti, violin; Viktor Uzur, cello. (Blue Griffin 109)
The concoction presented here, by Andrej Kurti and Viktor Uzur, natives of Yugoslavia who met as students at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, is an exhilarating musical equivalent of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Applying relentless energy, razor-sharp virtuosity, and a great sense of fun to 14 lollipops—from a Scott Joplin rag to a 10-minute treatment of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir,” with generous chunks of the classic-rock acts Yes, Pink Floyd, and Queen in between—Kurti and Uzur have created a treasury of irresistible encore items. Their sumptuous performances, with all sorts of often over-the-top expressive glissandi and ritards, are enhanced by a larger-than-life recording that sounds fabulous at virtually any volume level.
The arrangements range from straightforward (Kreisler’s Schon Rosmarin and some familiar Middle European bon-bons) to pretty interesting (Yes’ edgy “Heart of the Sunrise” and a really imaginative “Flight of the Bumblebee”).
—LAURENCE VITTES
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