Masters of the Oboe = Heinz Holliger, Hansjörg Schellenberger, John Mack, Lothar Koch, Celia Nicklin, Neil Black, Ray Still, and Ralph Gomberg, with various instrumentalists, orchestras and conductors – DGG

by | Sep 4, 2006 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

Masters of the Oboe = Heinz Holliger, Hansjörg Schellenberger, John Mack, Lothar Koch, Celia Nicklin, Neil Black, Ray Still, and Ralph Gomberg, with various instrumentalists, orchestras and conductors – DGG B00066102 (2 CDs), 76:05, 76:09 ***:

The oboe is an expressive instrument with an especially plaintive quality of voice. Despite its modest size and seemingly benign demeanor, it has a tone that can cut through the largest orchestral tuttis. It can be devastatingly wicked or cheerful, seductive or consoling. It and its relatives, the English horn, the oboe d’amore, the oboe da caccia and  some others increasingly obscure, have such distinctive timbral qualities, and lend themselves to such tonal variety in the hands of the great oboists, that they make the ideal instrument for audiophile listening.

Creating a resource for audiophiles was probably not the driving force behind DG’s new 2-CD compilation, but no matter. From Bach to Stravinsky, and from Heinz Holliger to Ralph Gomberg, here is some awesome playing that will tell you how great your system is, or where its flaws may lie. There’s a lot of important oboe music missing from the pre-Bach era, particularly the delightful Renaissance dance genre, but maybe DGG is just waiting for Masters of the Oboe to go platinum.

As I said, there is a lot of great stuff here, played mostly by virtuosos of the German school, that is to say with more of a commitment to a wonderfully rich vibrato than their colleagues in the French school. The highlights are Holliger playing a gorgeous concerto by Benedetto Marcello, Cleveland’s John Mack playing the Mozart concerto, Hansjörg Schellenberger playing a Bach sonata, and Neil Black playing Mozart’s Oboe Quartet.  Personally, I could do without Ralph Vaughan Williams’ meandering Concerto (even in as fine a performance as Celia Nicklin gives it), but otherwise the repertoire and the performances are excellently chosen.

The sound varies, but is generally of a very high standard, and the oboists, without fail, sound glorious.

– Laurence Vittes

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