Release Date: 01 January 2000
Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 730099499125
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: The Art of the Oboe
Description
The Art of the Oboe Famous Oboe ConcertiThe oboe, perfected in France around the middle of the seventeenthcentury, gained acceptance in Venice during the 1690s. The first known Venetianoperas to include a part for it dated from 1692, and by 1696 at the latest ithad been heard at the Basilica of San Marco, which two years later recruitedits first permanent player of the oboe. Several other oboists of noteestablished themselves in the city, and the four ospedali grandi (thecharitable institutions caring for foundlings, orphans and the destitute) addedthe instrument to the teaching curriculum.It was logical, given Italy's - and, indeed, Venice's - pioneering r??lein the development of the concerto, that sooner or later the first concertiwith parts for oboes would be written. The big question was how, if at all,should they differ in style and form from violin concerti? For Vivaldi, as formost Italian composers, the problem was easily resolved. In his hands the oboebecomes a kind of ersatz violin. To be sure, he takes care not to exceed thenormal compass of the instrument (running from the D above Middle C to the Dtwo octaves higher), remembers to insert pauses for breathing and avoids over -abrupt changes of register, but the solo part still seems remarkablyviolinistic - as Vivaldi himself tacitly acknowledged when, on more than oneoccasion, he prescribed the violin as an alternative to the oboe.It was left to Vivaldi's important Venetian contemporary, TomasoAlbinoni (1671-1751), to find another way of treating the oboe in a concerto.Apart from being a capable violinist, Albinoni was a singing teacher married toan operatic diva. His experience of writing operas and cantatas decisivelyaffected the way in which he approached melody and instrumentation. Hisconcerti equate the oboe not with a violin but with the human voice in an aria.Conjunct movement and small intervals are generally preferred to wide skips. Inopening orchestral passages the oboe does not double the first violin (as in Vivaldiconcerti) but bides its time until its solo entry or else supplies anindependent line. The opening solo idea is often presented twice - the firsttime abortively, the second time with a normal continuation. This twofoldpresentation is a device borrowed straight from the operatic aria of the time.Albinoni describes these works as concerti 'with', rather than 'for'oboe. The difference is significant. Whereas in a Vivaldi oboe concerto theprime aim is to show off the capability of the soloist, here the oboe is thepartner rather than the dominator of the first violin - and even the secondviolin is not excluded from the discourse. The spirit of give and take thatexists between the treble instruments lends these works a character thatreminds one of chamber music.The Op. 9 concerti are subdivided into four groups, each of whichbegins with a concerto for solo violin (here the oboe is silent), continueswith a concerto for one oboe and finishes with one for two oboes. No. 5,
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Yaqi Yang; Margarita Parsamyan; Robynne Redmon; Minghao Liu; Frank Ragsdale; Kim Josephson; Kevin S
Vilmos Csikos; Olivier Lechardeur; Manon Lamaison
Tomas Cotik; Martingale Ensemble; Ken Selden
