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ID: NMCD032
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Orchester
An encore for three cult works previously issued as singles on NMC and now available on one disc: Howard Skempton's Lento; Dominic Muldowney's Oboe Concerto; and Barry Guy's After the Rain. |
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ID: CC2001
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Historical Instruments
Based in Tokyo, the ensemble "La Fontaine" was founded in l996. Six months after its first concert in October 1996, the ensemble was a prizewinner at the Yamanashi/Tokyo Early Music Competition. In 1998 they participated in the York Early Music Festival in Britain. Two years later, they performed at the International Early Music competition in Bruges, where their performance won the second prize, the audience prize, and an invitation by Philip Pickett to participate in the 2001 Early Music Festival at London's South Bank Centre.
They perform regularly in major cities throughout Japan, including the prestigeous Casals Hall in Tokyo. They have been broadcast several times on Japanese Radio (NHK-FM). This is their second CD.
The CD booklet contains an article (in English, French and German) by Stephen Pettit on the lives of the composers, and also on the social and economic circumstances in which the pieces were written, and for whom. There are more details on the instruments and the players. |
| 18.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: CC2017
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: InstrumentalSubkolektion: Oboe
The 52-page CD booklet (DVD-size) has a 20,000 word programme note in English, including performance considerations for each movement. Britten's compositional sketches are reproduced in the booklet.
There are many illustrations.
This recording sets out to provide a complete overview of Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece for solo oboe, Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op 49. Not only is this work unique in the oboe repertoire but it is also one of the most distinctive examples of solo single-line instrumental writing from any age. It is hoped that performers, listeners, students and teachers will find it a useful resource for the understanding or preparation of such a wonderful work. The Metamorphoses is, though, complex in vision and detail and there is much to discover about the work. From its enigmatic title and colourful movements to its remarkable instrumental writing and technical demands on the player, it holds a certain mystique and can even be baffling to understand. This recording has based itself on an investigation of the literary and artistic background that lies behind the work’s creation, at the primary written sources in its composition and to suggest the reasons for Britten’s interest in writing such a work. In addition, these notes will offer performance suggestions based on Britten’s own remarks on the work, views and performances of players from its dedicatee, Joy Boughton, onwards and the shared experience of teachers and aficionados. My performances on this CD take all the original and subsequent evidence into account. They do not aspire to be definitive in any way but they do seek to be as true to Britten’s intentions as possible. Joy Boughton’s 1952 recording is an important source for all aspects of interpretation, and other recordings by artists whose playing Britten knew, including Sarah Francis, Janet Craxton and Heinz Holliger, are valuable sources. Evidence that Britten was very keen on accuracy to what he wrote influences this interpretation, but there is also an acceptance that Britten’s own views on the work may have changed over time as he came into contact with performers. Perhaps most significantly, this recording presents for the first time the sketch from Britten’s pocket diary in March 1951, most of the material from his manuscript sources, and the original Boughton recording as a point of reference. To complete this study of the work, a recent recording by Nicholas Daniel provides a third performance for comparison.
1. General
Introduction
Background
A work for unaccompanied oboe
Literary influences
Ovid
The visual arts
2. Sources and Interpretations
The printed edition
Metronome marks
The Krebs letter
CD tracks 1-6: George Caird's performance:
Pan (1:48), Phaeton (1:29), Niobe (2:26),
Bacchus (1:53), Narcissus (3:04), Arethusa (2:49)
CD track 7: The Diary Sketch (1:52)
CD tracks 8-29: Performances by George Caird
from the Composition Sketch and Fair Copy
CD tracks 30-35: Joy Boughton's 1952
performance: Pan (2:09), Phaeton (1:30),
Bacchus (2:02), Niobe (2:16),
Narcissus (2:26), Arethusa (2:53)
CD tracks 36-41: Nicholas Daniel:
Pan (2:20), Phaeton (1:20), Niobe (2:36),
Bacchus (1:38), Narcissus (3:12), Arethusa (2:42)
Biographies
3. References
Bibliography
Discography
Picture references |
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ID: CC2006
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Oboe
The CD booklet contains a 2,000-word essay by Christopher Redgate on the music and life of Antonino Pasculli in English, Italian and German. The photos include two of Pasculli and one of his Triébert oboe.
Antonino Pasculli was born in 1842. The great violin virtuoso Paganini had died two years previously (also an Italian, a performer and a composer) and Franz Liszt was touring Europe as a dazzling virtuoso. Some have likened Pasculli to Paganini and perhaps for good reason; he must at least have known the reputation of these two giants.
But there were others. The concept of the performer/composer was very common in both the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of them wrote music for their own use, and often specifically to display their techniques. There were many fine oboist/composers during this period - Casimir Lalliet (1837-92) and Stanislas Verroust (1814-63) to name but two. What sets the music of Antonino Pasculli apart, however, is the extreme technical demands he makes upon the oboist (I know of nothing else from the 19th century repertoire to compare with the challenges he poses), and the creative ways in which he uses his chosen material. copyright Christopher Redgate 2003 |
| 18.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: CC2005
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Oboe
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 |
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ID: CC2003
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Oboe
The CD booklet contains (in English, French and German) a description of each piece, a biography and photo of each composer, and the libretto of Fox Woman.
Xas-Orion was conceived by Paul Goodey and Michael Oliva as a duo for oboe and electronics organised in 33 triggered events. Both parts are organised around the note 'B' which forms a core, rather than a tonal centre. The distinction between the the two sound worlds of oboe and electronics is deliberately blurred.
New Ground (by David Sutton-Anderson) is a set of linked variations on Purcell's keyboard piece 'A New Ground' heard at the outset.
Ostrich on the Plain (by Graham Fitkin) was written in 1985. There were two starting points: first, the manipulation of speed using metric modulation, and second, the sheer effort in playing the oboe.
At the Still Point of the Turning World... (by Edwin Roxburgh) has the sound of the oboe fed through a system of six delays, ranging from 4.2 to 60 seconds, plus filtering and modulation. The whole system is controlled by a graphic score.
Into the Light (by Michael Oliva) is a piece in the Romantic tradition of the tone poem. It takes the form of a journey from death (cor anglais) into a supposed afterlife (oboe) in which the piano plays the role of a sort of 'pulse giver'.
Diptych (Abstractions IV) by Timothy Salter has two movements, the first marked 'with feverish energy' and the second 'reflective yet with intensity; restless, agitated'. The mood at the end of the first movement is carried over into the cor anglais soliloquy that opens the second.
Fox Woman(music by Cecilia McDowall, words by Christie Dickason) uses the oboe in a way that exploits not only its elegance and subtlety, but also its potential for brutality. This range suggests the Japanes myths of fox spirits, dangerous shape-shifters which often took the form of beautiful women. |
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ID: CC2009
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Oboe
George Caird (oboe) with
Simon Blendis (violin), Louise Williams (viola), Jane Salmon (cello), Alison Dods (violin 2 in Maconchy, Gow), David Adams (violin 2 in Bliss)
The CD booklet contains a 2,500-word article by George Caird on the music in English, French and German.
There are more photos of the performers and the recording session.
This recording brings together five remarkable works for oboe and strings written between 1926 and 1946 and representing an English renaissance for the oboe as a chamber music instrument. It is a period which is musically very rich and diverse, with English composers showing new influences from Europe and America. The range and expression across these works is striking and is a tribute to the artistry of the oboist Léon Goossens, who is the dedicatee of three of the works and who taught the dedicatees of certainly one and possibly both of the other two. He was also the player behind two other important works by Bax and Finzi. These magnificent seven works, it can be argued, established a repertoire for oboe quartets and quintets and did much to promote the oboe as a chamber music instrument.
Goossens’ exquisite playing was characterised by a distinctive and sensitive sound, beautiful phrasing, a wide dynamic and tonal range and great rhythmic vitality. His collaboration with Sir Arnold Bax produced the first significant work for oboe and strings, the Quintet written in 1922 and recorded by Goossens with the International Quartet in 1924 (featured on Oboe Classics CC2005). Bax’s music, with its pastoral and elegiac qualities together with a strong Irish influence leant itself superbly to Goossens’ playing and this work must surely be partly responsible for the works on this recording. copyright George Caird 2004 |
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ID: CC2008
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Oboe
The CD booklet contains a 2,000-word essay by Emily Pailthorpe on the music and the times in English, French and German. The photos include more of the performers, composers and the recording session.
The period between the two World Wars was one of violence, conflict, loss, nostalgia, yet great creative energy - qualities which are reflected in this collection of works for oboe and piano. These pieces conjure up a time in which loss was familiar, change seemed relentless, and yet a frenzy of exuberant artistic work was taking place. In her book 'Testament of Youth' (1933) Vera Brittain writes of the time: "Only gradually did I realize that the War had condemned me to live to the end of my days in a world without confidence and security, a world in which every dear personal relationship would be fearfully cherished under the shadow of apprehension."
The five composers represented in this disc were each directly affected by the extraordinary circumstances of the inter-war period, and their reactions were personal and diverse. Together, these pieces create not only a varied recital programme but also a window into this highly charged time. Living in the shadow of such desolation it is awe-inspiring and affirming that these men chose still to express themselves through the universal language of music. They speak clearly to us across the gulf of time in a way that is best expressed by these words of Dylan Thomas:
Though Lovers be lost, love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
copyright 2003 Emily Pailthorpe |
| 18.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: CC2013
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Oboe
The 24-page CD booklet has a 3,000 word programme note in English and German, detailing the origins of both the Bach and the 20th Century works, with a description of the performers, and many photographs.
The oboe played an important role in eighteenth-century musical society, with composers such as Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann making wide use of it as a solo, chamber and orchestral instrument. A favourite with J.S. Bach, the oboe and its family featured significantly in the composer's life in Leipzig where many of his large scale choral works were produced.
During the nineteenth century, the instrument was almost entirely relegated to the orchestra; only a handful of composers regarded it as a suitable solo instrument. However it was revived in the twentieth century by pioneers such as Léon Goossens and Janet Craxton studying, performing and teaching in London. Other players helping to reaffirm the musical capabilities of the oboe as a solo instrument included Evelyn Rothwell (Lady Barbirolli), who with her duo partner Valda Aveling (harpsichord) realized the potential of combining these two instruments. They encouraged some of England's most respected composers to use the harpsichord in duo sonata form for the first time since the eighteenth century, and this CD presents four pieces which were written for them in 1963 and 1972. Copyright Althea Ifeka and Katharine May 2005
As of 2008, Althea Ifeka is changing her name to Althea Talbot-Howard.
Althea Ifeka and Katharine May began their association in 1994 as scholars on the Countess of Munster Musical Trust Recital Scheme, and have given numerous recitals at music clubs, festivals and universities throughout the United Kingdom. In 1996 they broadcast for both Classic FM and RTE Ireland, and also undertook a concert tour of Eire, co-sponsored by the British Council. This is their first CD. |
| 18.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: CC2011
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Oboe
Janet Craxton (1929-81) founded the London Oboe Quartet with Perry Hart (violin), Brian Hawkins (viola) and Kenneth Heath (cello) in 1968, and later with Charles Tunnell (cello) after Kenneth Heath's death in 1977. During the twelve years of its existence the Quartet played at most of the major UK music festivals and made frequent BBC broadcasts, from which these recordings are taken. Janet Craxton was always a champion of new music, and the Quartet commissioned five of the six works on this CD, as well as music by Neil Sanders, Alan Rawsthorne, Oliver Knussen, John Exton and John McCabe.
A previous Oboe Classics CD, An English Renaissance, celebrated Leon Goossens with a number of works inspired by his oboe playing. In the notes for that CD George Caird commented that in the generation following Goossens „the oboe playing of Janet Craxton should be singled out as the torch-bearer for music for oboe and strings. But that, and the composers who wrote for her, is another story.“ |
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