Bach - Double Oboe & Violin Concerto [Vogel & Hahn/Kahane-Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra]

This is the third time this work / disc has appeared in my Blog [2nd February 2010 & 11th October 2010], it is such a great little work [only 13 minutes long], the tunes and rhythms are stunning, and this recording is very lively and has a certain intimacy about it, it just proves that Bach is a genius across the whole spectrum of Classical music.

Hilary Hahn is an American Violinist, steadily making her way recording all the major Concertos, and throwing in a few surprises of unknowns along the way, she's now 32, still really young, she recorded this work in 2003, and like i've said before, the front cover [and back inlay] pic is a stunner [photo by Kasskara], a head and shoulders shot of Hahn, looking straight serious at the camera, lovely dark blue background, and the letting is very nicely done, a really great visual product.

This Concerto starts off great, and finishes even better, it was the third movement which really blew the cobwebs away, a tremendous rhythmic tour de force, lasting just 3:10, but packed with quality, the opening tutti has surges of sound for effect [0:00-0:25], and Vogel and Hahn come in, playing sparks off each other [0:26-1:11], Hahn impresses with some virtuoso playing [1:11-1:28], and what a beautiful sounding instrument the oboe is, a perfect Baroque sound, towards the end the whole lot comes together in a nice culmination [2:48-2:57], Bach really knows how to get us musically excited.

Here's Nigel Kennedy and Aisling Casey playing the third movement on YouTube.

Vaughan Williams - Oboe Concerto [Nicklin/Marriner-The Academy Of Saint Martin In The Fields]

I like the idea behind this disc, a collection of the lesser known Orchestral works of Vaughan Williams, he is justly famed for his nine Symphonies, his major statements, especially the 2nd, 5th, and 6th, and certainly his two concertante pieces The Lark Ascending and the Tallis Fantasia are also well known, but this collection brings together some of the other pieces, and it's was good for me to get to know them better today.

Neville Marriner is now 87, still conducting the ASMF, he's English, and it's fitting having a very English Conductor, with a very English Composer on the disc, and a very English Painter on the front cover, Constable's The Hay Wain is an inspired choice, a tremendous painting, it hangs in the National Gallery in London, i've been in there and seen it, it's really huge, six feet long, and over four feet tall, the wording and lettering are nicely placed, and there's a sort of 'feel' for the music and the painting, as if they go together, the Oboe Concerto was recorded in 1979.

On this listen i really enjoyed the Concerto Grosso and the Oboe Concerto, i have a new appreciation for both, they each have some wonderful ideas, and they're certainly not second rate Vaughan Williams as i at first thought, i was especially touched by the Oboe Concerto, with Celia Nicklin as the soloist, Vaughan Williams wasn't exactly renowned for his Concertos [though i have a soft spot for his Piano Concerto], they always seem to be short and pithy, but his Oboe Concerto repays repeated and intensive listening.

Here's Catherine Kim playing the third movement on YouTube.

Vivaldi - Oboe Concertos Volume 1 [Schilli/Jonas-Failoni Chamber Orchestra Budapest] 

Naxos have issued the complete Vivaldi Oboe Concertos on two discs, this includes all the Double Oboe Concertos [with Diethelm Jonas on the second Oboe here], and i feel that it's these Double Oboe Concertos that are the best thing here, each has a certain character, and once you get familiar with certain tunes in certain movements, you just can't get them out of your head, Vivaldi created roughly 500 Concertos, just the sheer number, all created in his Baroque style, can sound very 'samey', but you can start to pick out favourite bits, unlike say the Bassoon [which Vivaldi composed a fair number of Concertos for], which i don't think really works for Vivaldi, the Oboe on the other hand works just great.

Stefan Schilli i believe is German, this disc was recorded in 1992, as is usual with Naxos discs, the front covers have a tendency to leave a lot to be desired, they aren't very inspired in my mind.

Well i so much enjoyed three separate movements on this disc, the opening movement of RV 534, the slow middle movement of RV 452, and the opening movement of the Double Concerto RV 536, and it's this Concerto i would like to talk about, the oboes really just double up, they don't play any different from each other, or play separately from each other, the opening is just pure genius invention, the two oboes play piercingly high treble, i guess it's in their nature, it's quite a high instrument, and the strings fill in the oboe silences with downward string notes [0:00-0:31], after a string tutti, the oboes come back in, and play a nice variation of the opening [0:53-1:10], with cleverly added embellishments, and this is the way that the music continues, orchestral tuttis punctuated by oboe solos, each new oboe solo seems to become slightly more varied and virtuosic than the last, the third solo is the best [1:27-1:49], adding some nice higher 'flutterings', and the last solo [2:06-2:26], returns to the more flatter unembellished opening, once you get this in your head and heart, it becomes really endearing.

Here's Christopher Palameta & John Abberger playing the Double Oboe Concerto RV 536 on YouTube.

Bach - Double Oboe & Violin Concerto [Vogel & Hahn/Kahane-Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra]

Well this is the very first time that a work by a certain artist has appeared in my Blog for the second time, [2nd February 2010], since i started my Blog at the beginning of the year, i knew this would eventually happen, this disc really is becoming treasurable, all four works on the disc are truly wonderful, they all have that baroque spirit about them, and it's a nice cozy chamber music recording, you can hear the individual voices in the group, unlike a soupy mega orchestra.

Again i feel i must point out about this certain disc, it has one of the most artistic photographs of any disc that i own [by Kasskara], a superb sharp shot on the front and back, the lettering / graphics are a joy to look at, very well laid out, this is how things should be, and the yellow DG logo sensibly reduced to a small box, well done DG.

On this listen i was so excited by the final movement of this Concerto, it has a real exuberance and life to it, the small chamber group quickly create a frothy baroque lather [0:00-0:25], and when the oboe and violin come in [0:26+], they seemingly play 'against' each other, but actually complementing each other and making great music together, later Hahn lets go and the violin does some breathtaking virtuoso somersaults [1:11-1:28], and later the oboe also has a virtuoso go [1:45-2:05], but it's just not in the same league, at the end the orchestra take the music out in a wonderful fashion [2:40-3:10], showing the oboe and violin what they can do, what a breathtaking three minutes, Bach really packs a punch.

Here's Hilary Hahn & Allan Vogel playing the third movement on YouTube.

Bach - Double Violin & Oboe Concerto [Mackintosh & Hammer/ Hogwood-The Academy Of Ancient Music]

As well as the 6 Brandenburg Concertos, this double disc set also has room for three other works, and one of these is the delightful Double Concerto for Violin & Oboe [BWV 1060].

I like this lithe performance on 'authentic instruments', there's not enough Double Concertos in the world, so this is very welcome, and Bach and Vivaldi regularly composed these types of concertos.

I certainly enjoyed all the movements of this concerto, but most of all the final movement was especially thrilling, it's played quite fast here, but maybe this is a normal speed,

Here's Nigel Kennedy & Aisling Casey playing the third movement of this Concerto on YouTube, even Nige gets a rose at the end!.

Bach - Double Oboe & Violin Concerto [Hahn & Vogel/Kahane-Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra]

The American Hilary Hahn has made a fabulous album here, she was nearly 23 when she recorded this, each of the four works is a gem, in a wonderfully clear recording, ideally using a Chamber Orchestra, you can hear all the instruments in a realistic spatial dimension, Bach would have been thrilled with the interpretation.

A Double Concerto for a wind and a stringed instrument is a great idea, it's a wonder that the big classical and romantic era Composers didn't create Concertos for various combinations of duets, the Oboe and Violin work really well together.

This time i was enchanted by the lovely slow middle movement Adagio, sounding like it's suspended in space and time, the gorgeous Oboe melody comes in right at the beginning, and the Violin takes up the tune after a short while, the two swap and overlap each other in a fugue like elegy, while the strings play a pizzicato beat like gentle raindrops, really soothing and calming.

Here's Nigel Kennedy & Aisling Casey playing the Adagio on YouTube.