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ID: CC2022 (EAN: 5023581202224) | 1 CD | DDD Publi: 2010
- LABEL:
- Oboe Classics
- Subcollection:
- Oboe
- Compositeurs:
- BASLER, Paul | BLANC, Adolphe | DAMASE, Jean-Michel | HERZOGENBERG, Leopold Heinrich von | MOLBE, Heinrich (BACH, Heinrich Freiherr von) | MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus
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Interprètes:
- POLMEAR, Jeremy (oboe) | SAXEL, Richard (piano) | STIRLING, Stephen (horn)
- Pour plus amples dtails:
The 20-page full colour CD booklet has a 3,000 word programme note in English with full details of each track.
There are biographies of the players, web links and many photographs.
Introduction by Jeremy Polmear:
In the realm of chamber music the combination of oboe, horn and piano is an unusual one. The string quartet medium reigns supreme in its ability to inspire great works from great composers. There are many reasons for this, one being that in a string quartet each instrument has its own character, but all are of the same family so that they can also blend as a unit. Each can add its voice on equal terms to the others, speaking the same language but with its own individual accent.
By contrast the wind quintet of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn is all just that - contrast. Each instrument occupies its own sound-world, its own unique colour. This is what makes these instruments so valuable in an orchestra, but can be a challenge in a chamber music context. It takes a very skilful composer - and skilful performers too - to create satisfying blends with these instruments.
It is perhaps no accident that when Mozart wrote chamber music for flute, oboe, clarinet, and horn, he did so individually, in works with strings. Or he added a piano to smooth out the sound, as in the celebrated Quintet K452 with oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn. On this CD we have done something similar with his Horn Quintet K407; although the violin part is now on the oboe, the two violas and cello are given to the piano.
And it is the piano that is the key to the possibilities of the trio with oboe and horn. Even when it is an accompanying role it can provide a mellow presence and a solid harmonic basis, over which the other instruments can sing. This is true in the Mozart, and also in the two short nineteenth century pieces recorded here, by Blanc and Molbe.
And what of the other two instruments? The US horn player Cynthia Carr, in the introduction to her repertoire list of music for the trio, puts it thus: "This ensemble - comprised of the most distinctive-sounding woodwind instrument and the most versatile member of the brass family - presents a rich tonal palette and can produce a wide range of textures, from delicate and transparent to full and orchestral." This can be seen in this CD particularly in the Herzogenberg Trio Op 60 (1889), and in the way that Jean-Michel Damase makes full, and delightful, play of all the possibilities in his Trio of 1990. The oboe cannot match the horn in terms of dynamic range, but its timbre means that it can still be heard, even when both the other instruments are at full stretch. Meanwhile, within the context of the piano sound, the two instruments can celebrate their differences - the oboe melodic and poignant, the horn warm and noble.
In her repertoire list, Cynthia Carr lists nearly forty compositions. There is a genre here, but it is miniscule compared to the repertoire for a string quartet or even a wind quintet. This is because the oboe/horn/piano trio has never been a standard instrumental combination, never part of a European Court as, for example, the Wind Band octets were. Compositions have come about in a more haphazard way. The nineteenth century was a bad one for wind chamber music players - only Schumann and Brahms among the major composers wrote anything. Where they did, it was for specific players, for example the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld for whom Brahms wrote the Clarinet Quintet. For this Trio there are two keynote nineteenth century pieces - the Herzogenberg Trio already mentioned, and one by Carl Reinecke, written in 1887.
During the 20th Century there were a smattering of works, but the increase in interest didn't come about until late in the century, with the rise of oboe/horn/piano trios in the US, particularly Cynthia Carr's own Trio Arundel, and the horn player Martin Webster of the Hancock Chamber Players. They not only wanted to play music, but were willing to commission pieces, resulting in Paul Basler's jazzy Vocalise-Waltz of 1996 (commissioned by Cynthia) and the Damase Trio mentioned above, commissioned by Martin.
To these people we owe a debt for opening up new possibilities in the under-exploited world of wind chamber music.
| MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791) | | | Trio after the Quartet K407. | | | 1. | I. Allegro | 6:11 | | | 2. | II. Andante | 5:42 | | | 3. | III. Rondo - Allegro | 4:01 | | | BLANC, Adolphe (1828-1885) | | | 4. | Romance, Op. 43b. | 4:24 | | | HERZOGENBERG, Leopold Heinrich von (1843-1900) | | | Trio Op 61. | | | 5. | I. Allegretto | 7:19 | | | 6. | II. Presto | 3:52 | | | 7. | III. Andante con moto | 5:36 | | | 8. | IV. Allegro | 4:49 | | | MOLBE, Heinrich (BACH, Heinrich Freiherr von) (1835-1915) | | | 9. | Air arabe, Op. 77 | 5:07 | | | BASLER, Paul (b.1963) | | | 10. | Vocalise-Waltz | 6:20 | | | DAMASE, Jean-Michel (b. 1928) | | | Trio (1990) | | | 11. | I. Allegro deciso | 5:02 | | | 12. | II. Andante | 4:01 | | | 13. | III. Presto scherzando | 2:36 | | | 14. | IV. Molto moderato - Allegro | 3:43 | | "Throughout the disc, Jeremy Polmear's vibrant and poetic sound is partnered by Stephen Stirling's effortless chamber music playing and imaginative range of horn colours."
George Caird, Double Reed News
"Mozart's Trio transcription has been accomplished very adeptly and in the spirit of the music. Especially pleasing is the songful duet between the oboe and horn in the slow movement, not to forget the energy and brio with which all three musicians play the Rondo finale. The recorded sound at Wyastone Leys is first class. If this combination of instruments appeals, and there's no real reason why it shouldn't, you'll find music that is engaging, clever and often quietly memorable."
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
"It is often said that Herzogenberg's music is derivative and rather academic but the committed performance here belies this."
Paul Sawbridge, The Horn Magazine
"Oboe, horn and piano is a rare but oddly beguiling blend of timbres... but it can be richly rewarding, as demonstrated here by Polmear, Stirling and Saxel... Most engaging of all is Air Arabe by H Molbe (pseudonym of a Bach presumably seeking his own identity), a slow, Romantic waltz of wistful tone and lightness of touch."
Andy Gill, Independent
21.00 eur Temporarily out of stock
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