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World music CD DVD shop and Classic distribution
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ID: CC2005 (EAN: 5023581200527) | 1 CD | DDD Released in: 2002
- LABEL:
- Oboe Classics
- Subcollection:
- Oboe
- Composers:
- BARTHE, Adrien | BAX, Arnold | COLIN, Charles | FAURÉ, Gabriel | FIOCCO, Joseph-Hector | MARCELLO, Benedetto | PHILLIPS, Van | PIERNÉ, Gabriel | SAINT-SAËNS, Camille | SCARLATTI, Domenico | THOMÉ, Francis Lucien Joseph | Traditional
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Interprets:
- GOOSSENS, Léon (oboe / horn) | MOORE, Gerald (piano) | RAYBOULD, Clarence (piano)
- Ensembles:
- International String Quartet | London Wind Quintette | Van Phillips All-Star Orchestra
- Conductors:
- SUSSKIND, Walter
- Other info:
Recorded between 1925 and 1947
The CD booklet contains an essay (in English, French and German) about Goossens and his art by Melvin Harris which has recieved much praise - "Melvin Harris' excellently supportive booklet note" (Classical Music Web); "Melvin Harris, author of the excellent insert note" (Gramophone). There are photographs from Goossens' early and middle life, including some not seen before.
Of Léon Goossens it was once said: "There is perhaps only one other musician who can so etherialise his instrument. One thinks of Casals and his cello."
But it was not always so. In his early days Léon Goossens was dissatisfied with the models he was expected to emulate. His first teacher was Charles Reynolds, the renowned lead oboist of the Hallé Orchestra. Great though he was at teaching breath control and practice passages, his tone and phrasing held no magic for his young pupil. Etherealisation was absent from a tone that was broad, without vibrato and, as Léon put it, "bullish". Indeed, to mute his instrument, Reynolds used to hang a robust pocket handkerchief over his music stand and project into it!
Later studies at London's Royal College of Music brought no real inspiration, for the oboe professor there was William Malsch, a kindly man, but an unlovely player. He was dropped from the Queen's Hall Orchestra since his tone set Sir Henry Wood's teeth on edge. An American critic agreed, when he wrote "His tone bites like sulphuric acid".
The great breakthrough came when Léon heard the Belgian oboist Henri De Busscher play at the Queen's Hall. De Busscher's playing was delicate and expressive, with a marvellous singing quality about it. His long, sensitive phrases were a marvel. His cameo-like tone was endowed with a warm vibrato. This was the inspiration that Léon had yearned for. Night after night he listened out for De Busscher's solos, then went back to his room to emulate and aim for the same subtle and singing control over his oboe. He was an eager and gifted pupil, so much so that when De Busscher left for New York, Henry Wood chose the 16-year-old Goossens to take his place. copyright Melvin Harris, 2002
| FAURÉ, Gabriel (1845-1924) | | | 1. | Piece (vocalise 1914), with Clarence Raybould (piano) | 2:54 | | | MARCELLO, Benedetto (1686-1739) | | | Concerto in C minor, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Walter Susskind | | | 2. | Andante | 3:31 | | | 3. | Adagio | 4:05 | | | 4. | Presto | 3:02 | | | PIERNÉ, Gabriel (1863-1937) | | | 5. | Aubade, with Gerald Moore (piano) | 2:45 | | | SCARLATTI, Domenico (1685-1757), arr Bryan | | | Concerto No 1 in G, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Walter Susskind | | | 6. | Canzonetta | 2:34 | | | 7. | Polonaise | 2:01 | | | 8. | Minuet | 3:16 | | | 9. | Aria | 1:58 | | | 10. | Tarantella | 2:06 | | | BAX, Arnold (1883-1953) | | | Quintet for oboe and strings, with the International Quartet (A Mangeot, B Pecker, F Howerd, H Withers) | | | 11. | Tempo molto moderato - Allegro | 4:48 | | | 12. | Lento espressive | 7:28 | | | 13. | Allegro giocoso | 4:07 | | | BARTHE, Adrien (1828-1898) | | | 14. | Passacaille, with the London Wind Quintette (R Murchie, L Goossens, H Draper, W James, AL Brain) | 2:59 | | | COLIN, Charles (1832-1881) | | | 15. | Concertino for oboe and orchestra | 6:12 | | | SAINT-SAËNS, Camille (1835-1921) | | | 16. | The Swan, with Clarence Raybould (piano) | 2:21 | | | THOMÉ, Francis Lucien Joseph (1850-1909) | | | 17. | Simple Aveu, with Clarence Raybould (piano) | 3:12 | | | FIOCCO, Joseph-Hector (1703-1741), arr. Bent & O'Neill | | | 18. | Arioso, with Gerald Moore (piano) | 2:37 | | | Traditional, arr. Kreisler | | | 19. | Londonderry Air, with Clarence Raybould (piano) | 3:40 | | | PHILLIPS, Van | | | 20. | Nicolette, with the Van Phillips All-Star Orchestra | 3:03 | | "Historic recording of Léon Goossens, a great oboist caught in his prime" Headline over a feature article by John Warrack in Gramophone
"A reissue of the 1927 Bax quintet is the centrepiece of this enterprising disc ... but one reminder of the British oboist's wonderfully eloquent gifts."
Anthony Holden, Observer
"A collection of early recordings by Léon Goossens ... includes numerous examples of his Kreisler-like way with lighter music, and a wonderfully rhapsodic 1927 account of the Bax Quintet."
Anthony Burton, BBC Music Magazine
"Woodwind specialists as well as Baxians will want to snap up this lovingly compiled and presented disc."
Rob Barnett, Classical Music Web. For the complete review on the Classical Music Web site.
"This is a fine after-dinner wine of a recording, worth listening to at leisure, without interruption, so as to marvel over the extraordinary facility and exquisite taste of one of the finest instrumentalists of any age."
Barry Brenesal, Fanfare (USA)
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