Baroque oboe pieces charming

Press, 7 September 1989, Page 14

Baroque oboe pieces charming

& discs

ALLAN FRANCIS

BAROQUE OBOE CONCERTOS: LeClair, Marcello, Telemann, Vivaldi. Heinz Holliger, oboe with the Staatskapelle Dresden. PHILIPS CD 422-492-2. ADD.

There are no claims to greatness in any of these concertos, nor are there any traces of ill winds with Heinz Holliger’s treatment of charming and good natured pieces. The age of the recording (1973) might deter a few, but this is of little account as once again Holliger asserts his superiority with the oboe, suitably sweet/sour in tone and deftly taking the roles of original scores for violin in the LeClair and Vivaldi Concertos.

The programme remains unchanged from the LP version on Philips 6500 413, and it is the Telemann Concerto in G that proves to be the most interesting of the four. Originally written for the oboe d’amore, the work is totally rustic in character. The sound quality, silky and resonant on the original, is even more so on the CD transfer. Highly recommended. HANDEL: Concertl Grossi Op. 6 Nos. 8, 10, and '■ 12. “Alexander’s Feast” played by the Capella Ist ropol it ana conducted by Josef Kopelman. NAXOS CD 8.550158. DDD

The danger of overdoing a good thing is ever present in the CD market, and budget issues provide a trap for the unwary. To date, few’ have appeared on the classical front, and Naxos is free

from doubt, in spite' of the little-known artists who appear quite regularly. The new label, Marco Polo, promises much the same, with orchestras and musicians drawn from highly rated Czech and Hungarian sources.

Handel’s “Opus 6 Concert! Grossi” provide an ideal subject for a new venture, and this selection was recorded in Bratislava in May last year under carefully controlled conditions.

This delightful selection from the Capella players follows closer to the Harnoncourt version than the fleeting Marriner accounts from 1968.

It is to be hoped that Capella Istropolitana take a lead from their senior colleagues and record the entire set, after such an auspicious start.

BACH: Mass in B minor BWV23ft Philippe Herreweghe conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Collegium Vocale, Ghent, with soloists, Barbara Schlick, Catherine Patriasz, Charles Brett, Howard Crook, Peter Kooy. VIRGIN LP VCD-7 H 757 1. Also on CD. This version adheres closely to Bach’s original performances, his notes and all the thoughts on how best this Mass should be treated, and for Bach above all others, the small ensembles work well.

Philippe Herreweghe the bare mini-

mum of singers and musicians, but above all else, he has chosen the one alto of Charles Brett in preference to the two boy altos in the recent Andrew Parrott recording with Emma Kirkby and the Taverner Consort.

Earlier, Joshua Rifkin’s award-winning version preferred counter tenors, so we now have a still leaner version, which has obviously been aware of what went on in the Rifkins/Parrott versions. At the other end of the scale is the 1974 account from Karajan, which is monumental in sound and conception. As quoted by the liner notes ”... baroque music seems to be different when Karajan conducts ...” Harnoncourt, Gardiner, Rifkin, Parrott and now Herreweghe graphically illustrate that there is no need to instil artificial means to demonstrate Bach’s profound utterences, so Karajan is now totally out of order in this context.

The argument for one singer to each vocal part, as advanced by Rifkin and thought to be extreme at the time, is even more applicable here. The hefty brass section almost eclipses the bass, Peter Kooy, in the ’’Quoniam tusolus Sanctus,” where the singer sounds as though he is behind the brass section.