Classical Oboe Concertos
Giuseppe FERLENDIS (1755-1810)
Oboe Concerto No. 1 in F (c. 1777) [12:57]
Leopold HOFMANN (1738-1793)
Oboe Concerto in C (1770-80?) [17:44]
Carl Ditters von DITTERSDORF (1739-1799)
Oboe d'amore Concerto in A (c. 1770) [13:13]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Oboe Concerto in C, KV314 (1777) [19:21]
Andrius Puskunigis (oboe, oboe d'amore)
St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra/Donatas Katkus
rec. 2014, Church of St. Catherine, Vilnius, Lithuania
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 95218 [63:47]
Amid today's multiple extended uncertainties - health-related, economic, political - a program of classical oboe concertos can be a real anchor of stability. It's reassuring to know that, following an orchestral ritornello, the solo instrument will mostly likely enter on the tonic (key) note, as happens precisely on cue in the Ferlendis concerto.
Each of the less familiar composers represented here, in fact, puts his own distinctive spin on Classical concerto form. Ferlendis is the most nearly conventional, though he favours staccatos to an unusual degree, and the Adagio is marked by a recurring, quick downward five-note string motif. He also adds roulades in the closing Rondo, though not to the extent Hofmann does in his central Adagio, in which the soloist's long lines veer off in unexpected directions. In Hoffman's bracing finale, operatic minor-key episodes set off the basic wind-swept momentum.
Decades ago, college music courses used to fuss over Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf; now that I've heard his rather insubstantial oboe d'amore concerto, I'm wondering why. (Could it really just have been his slightly sing-songy name?) The light, graceful first movement suggests the galant style; the other two movements - a florid Adagio and a bustling Presto with an eighth-note drive - look back to the Baroque.
To include Mozart's masterpiece probably makes good commercial sense, but it risks showing up the other composers. (As with the contemporary composers who include bits of Bach in their collages, why ask for trouble?) The chamber-sized string section maintains a consistent parity of scale, though at the cost of some of the Mozart's accustomed grandeur. I wanted the slow movement, especially, to "breathe" a little more, giving the fine soloist, Andrius Puskinigis time really to caress the lines. Then again, there's no objective reason why the movement should go that way; and the finale is slightly deliberate, allowing the soloist room for real delicacy
Andrius Puskunigis is firm and vibrant in tone, suggesting legato even in the semi-detached triplets of the Dittersdorf. He really relishes the various roulades and embellishments, while intoning Mozart's comparatively unadorned slow movement with a suitable gravitas. In the first movement of the Ferlendis, he has to slow down to accommodate the staccatos, and an unseemly squeak or two escapes him in the long first-movement cadenza of the Hofmann. All the cadenzas, by the way, are the soloist's own: tbat in Mozart's first movement tries to play with registers, a concept that doesn't work as well as it would on the clarinet.
The string sections of the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra are clearly small - the reeds dominate in Mozart's opening ritornello - but their playing is trim and focused; balances with the winds, both obbligato and supporting, are fine. The conductor, Donatas Katkus, paces the music well; a distinctly nervous ritard in Ferlendis's finale suggests unclear signals, or possibly unclear intentions. The recorded sound is excellent.
It's worth getting to know the Ferlendis and Hofmann concerti, at least. Among many fine editions of the Mozart, I still treasure Heinz Holliger's second recording (Philips), with Edo de Waart supplying a polished, full-bodied support.
Stephen Francis Vasta
stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog
