MORE CDs
The CDs below are not made by Oboe Classics, but are recommended, and can be bought
from this site
The price is specified with each CD (sometimes cheaper than Oboe Classics!)
In every other way they are the same as buying an Oboe Classics CD. They can be mixed with
Oboe Classics CDs
in your order, and they qualify the same for postage,
for security, and for processing times.
[Click the underlined works to hear MP3 sound clips]
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Sebastian Bodinus, Six Trios
Toutes Suites, Director Marianne R Pfau (oboe)
If you want a famous composer skip to the next CD, but if you're curious about someone who comes from
the same fertile cultural climate that produced J S Bach, read (and listen) on. Sebastian
Bodinus (1700-1759) was born just four kilometres from Arnstadt where the young Bach held his first post.
There are six sonatas in this set, for two oboes and continuo, played here on baroque instruments.
The touching Siciliana from Sonata I
gives a good flavour of much of the music. The faster movements are often dance-like, as in
this Presto from Sonata II.
Sonata III opens with this majestic Adagio, and
Sonata IV contains a Polonaise whose earthiness is emphasised by a violone underneath the bassoon.
Bodinus' slow movements are often deeply-felt, especially this Sarabande from
Sonata V, and
Sonata VI contains another dance-like fast movement.
The playing from this German/American group is uniformly excellent, three oboists sharing
out the solo parts. You can read more about them at
toutes-suites.com.
[CD number BD; time: 58:50]
"This is a fascinating discovery... a current top favourite in this household. Recorded sound is first-rate."
Nicholas Anderson, International Record Review
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Bach Goldberg Variations
Homecoming Woodwind Ensemble
Aria - 32 variations - Aria da capo
The critic who praised this CD (below) also wondered what the point was of arranging this work for wind. He obviously wasn't an oboist, or he wouldn't question the value of having a major baroque work for double reeds.
These Russian and German players are excellent (you can read more about them here),
so the real question is - does this arrangement work for you? Here is the
opening Aria - an elegant ornamented Sarabande.
Sometimes the keyboard origins of the music are evident, as in Variation 1;
but in the Canones (for example Variation 3) the use of two oboes is an advantage.
In the faster Variation 14, stereo
oboes are used to great effect.
This is intimate music; but in Variation 25
we have a solo that wouldn't seem out of place in a Passion or Cantata; and in
Variation 28 the single and double trills bubble along delightfully.
The story that these variations were composed for Johann Goldberg to play to the
insomniac Count Kaiserling is probably not true. Anyway, this music is not sleep-inducing;
the constant creativity of the composer makes for a musical journey that you wouldn't want to miss.
[CD number BGV; time: 49:46]
"Superbly played... in a lively and sympathetic acoustic, and there is much to admire in the
artistry of these four players." BBC Music Magazine
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Oboesession
Pauline Oostenrijk (oboe) Ivo Janssen (piano)
Camille Saint-Saëns: Sonata, Op 166 (1921)
Henri Dutilleux:: Sonata (1947)
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Francis Poulenc: Sonata (1962)
Marcel Mihalovici: Sonatina, Op 13 (1924)
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Makoto Shinohara: Obsession (1960)
The celebrated Dutch oboist Pauline Oostenrijk gives definitive performances of three major
pieces from the oboe repertoire, and everywhere demonstrates her commitment to the music
and the instrument.
In the Saint-Saëns she exercises classical restraint; in the second movement of the Poulenc
both players generate a driving intensity; and in the Dutilleux first movement, their control
of tension is superb, a fascinating companion to Emily Pailthorpe and Julian Milford's performance on
Though Lovers be Lost.
The Sonatina by Mihalovici (a Roumanian composer living in Paris) also appears on Oboe
Classics, in a ground-breaking 1938 performance by Louis Bleuzet on The Oboe 1903-53.
In Pauline Oostenrijk's hands it is transformed - the slow movements are mysterious, the
fast ones exhilarating.
Shinohara's piece, written for a competition, really is obsessive; by the end of the
performance we are exhausted but exhilarated by the vitality, virtuosity and variety of Pauline
Oostenrijk's playing. For more on Pauline Oostenrijk, see her web site
www.paulineoostenrijk.com.
[CD number OS; time: 57:39]
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"Oostenrijk possesses a beautiful purity of tone, with grit and passion when needed."
BBC Music Magazine, awarding the performance five stars
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Love's Lore
Stella Dickinson (oboe, cor anglais) and
London Virtuosi/Paul Hart
16 folk melodies, including:
The first track, I'll give my love an apple,
sets the tone for the whole CD - beautiful oboe playing from Stella Dickinson over a simple
string line, the drone and ornamentation giving a celtic tinge to the english melancholy. Elsewhere,
The oak and the ash is given a simple poignancy.
Paul Hart's subtle arrangements keep the melodies to the fore, but sometimes he is more
overt, as in this Brittenesque introduction to
The lark in the clear air. Delightfully, he gives
Annie Laurie the Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring treatment.
Textures are varied: in Women of Ireland,
solo harp and cor anglais give a starkly haunting feel. And each melody is developed,
as in this middle section of
Blow the wind southerly.
All the playing is distinguished. The strings are led by Rita Manning, the harpist
is Helen Tunstall. More about Stella Dickinson (including further reviews
of this CD) is on her
web site.
[CD number LL; time: 63:45]
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"This is music-making for all occasions, centred around Stella’s wonderful range of timbres
and instrumental technique.... a peach of a disc." Hi-Fi News
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intercession
Pipers 3 oboe trio
Mark Baigent (oboe, cor anglais) Jessica Mogridge (oboe, cor anglais,
kantelé)
Julian West (oboe, cor anglais)
Listen to any of these clips, and the first thing that strikes you is the quality of the playing. Beautifully
matched in sound, intonation, and technique, Pipers 3 are able to conjure up any number of magical
sounds. They are helped by a recording that takes advantage of a splendid church acoustic, even
though on headphones you can occasionally hear a hint of distant traffic.
The classical clips are the final gigue from a four-movement Sonata by Boismortier (originally
for three flutes), and the stunningly played cor anglais variation from Beethoven's take on La ci darem.
The contemporary works are all different, from Jeux (which really is playful in spite of the
fearsome technicalities involved) to the complex rhythms of Lunn's Trio and the textures of
Kantelaridé which sound as if a whole flock of oboes has arrived. Finally, impeccable control of sound and tuning creates a haunting pibroch effect in James Macmillan's
mesmeric piece that is fully worthy to take the name of the whole CD. [CD number P3; time: 51:53]
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"How often do three oboes make you believe you are listening to one?" Nicholas Daniel,
International Oboe Soloist
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For more on new noise, see their web site
www.newnoiselondon.com.
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Insomniac
new noise - Janey Miller oboe and Joby Burgess percussion
Cameron Sinclair (b 1964): The Fly
Simon Holt (b 1958): Banshee
John Zorn (b 1953): Bith Aneth
Javier Alvarez (b 1956): Temazcal
Katharine Norman (b 1960): Insomnia
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Thea Musgrave (b 1928): Niobe
Nat Walker (b 1974): Playa del Esta
Nigel Osborne (b 1948): Botanical Studies:
Arundo donax - Silene - Mirabilis - Cucurbita - Galanthus
Jeffrey Agrell (b 1948): Blues for D.D.
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"You won't find much aural wallpaper on Insomniac... Cameron Sinclair's opening track pays
homage to the old sci-fi movie The Fly. The second, Simon Holt's Banshee, turns the oboe
into a wailing monster; while Katharine Norman's Insomnia thrusts us into a
ten-minute nightmare of dark, itchy sounds smothered in electronics.
This isn't a CD to iron shirts by. The two musicians - Janey Miller and Joby Burgess -
attack such scores with an almost frightening vigour and skill. Sour, piercing notes sail
out of Miller in breaths that never end; the Devil would appreciate Burgess's dexterity
with drums, gongs, djembes, cymbals, whip and the rest of a large arsenal."
Geoff Brown, The Times
"This disc has a freshness about it - the use of electronics combined with less conventional
percussion such as sandpaper, a whip and log drums in Cameron Sinclair's The Fly make the
music sound very distinctive and quite unique. Another highlight is the brilliant rendition
of Thea Musgrave's Niobe, which shows off Janey Miller's virtuosic technique."
Musician
"Janey Miller's exquisite oboe, Joby Burgess's virtuosic percussion and sound-blowing
electronics make new noise's Insomniac blindingly vivid for anyone with a sense of musical
adventure."
Clare Mackney, The Birmingham Post
[CD number NNL1; time: 73:12]
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For a specialist woodwind online CD store, try www.euravent.co.uk. They have lots of other players. A click here will take you straight to their oboe page.
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