Italian Oboe Concertos Volume 2
Giovanni Platti (before 1692-1763) Concerto in G minor for oboe, strings and continuo [12'33"] Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) Concerto in C major for flute, oboe and orchestra [19'06"] Carlo Besozzi (1738- after 1798) Concerto no 1 in C major for oboe and orchestra [21'30"] Antonio Rosetti (c1750-1792) Rondeau in F major for oboe and orchestra [3'52"] Anthony Camden - oboe Peter Lloyd - flute The City of London Sinfonia directed by Nicholas Ward Recorded in St Paul's Church, Southgate, London; 2-4 August 1999 [Platti and Salieri] And All Saints Church, East Finchley, London; 15 March 1997 [Besozzi and Rosetti] Naxos 8.554772 [57'01"] Lesser-known works for oboe and orchestra add a second disc to the successful Naxos release of concerti by Corelli, Cimarosa, Bellini and others on Naxos 8.553433 played by the same artists. In this new release, some of which was recorded over four years ago, Anthony Camden is found to be in fine form. A distinguished soloist with many years as an orchestral principal behind him, Camden's fusion of the soloist's line with the accompanying orchestral textures brings out the chamber music aspect of these beautiful works with delightful clarity. The flexibility of his tone is admirable and creates not only some beautiful slow lines with seemingly effortless breathing, but allows the sprightly bite of the fast passages to have an almost period instrument flavour. The City of London Sinfonia, while providing some excellent playing in the tuttis, has a few rough edges in the accompaniments. This is particularly apparent in the Platti concerto - the earliest of the works on this disc. The shaping of accompanying string figures needs much more light and lift in this chamber music style baroque repertoire and the Sinfonia strings do come across here as somewhat old-fashioned in their rather stodgy approach. In the later repertoire they are much more at ease, and the Salieri Concerto shows of the orchestra and the soloists well. This best known of Salieri's orchestral works is still not as widely appreciated as it deserves to be. The opening movement in particular brings out some fine phrasing and a well-balanced sense of the dialogue not only between the two soloists, but also between the soloists and the orchestra. The flute playing of Peter Lloyd, while employing a modern metal flute which is in many ways an unfortunate choice timbrally, has a style and sympathy for the lines and small gestures that almost makes up for it aurally. He is perfectly blended with the oboe throughout. With the prevalence of period instrument recordings of the baroque and classical repertoire it is interesting to hear a modern instrument group, with modern instrument soloists, still willing to record this repertoire. The result overall, when given a soloist of the distinction of Anthony Camden, makes for a listening experience of great joy. The sheer musicality of his playing, no matter what instrument he chooses to use, over-rides all else. Thoroughly recommendable. (c) Peter Wells 2001Back to top Bookmark:
post to Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUponRecent on Mstation: music: Vivian Girls, America's Cup, music: Too Young to Fall..., music: Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Berlin Lakes, music: Atarah Valentine, Travel - Copenhagen, House in the Desert
front page / music / software / games / hardware /wetware / guides / books / art / search / travel /rss / podcasts / contact us