J. S. BACH (1685-1750)
Concerto in F major reconstructed from BWV 49 and BWV 169 [18:58]
Concerto in D minor reconstructed from BWV 35 and BWV 156 [11:40]
Adagio from Easter Oratorio BWV 249 [4:08]
Concerto in A major reconstructed from BWV 1055 [14:37]
Concerto in C minor reconstructed from BWV 1060 [13:26]
Alexei Ogrintchouk (oboe and director)
Alina Ibragimova (violin BWV 1060)
Reinut Tepp (harpsichord)
Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Örebro
rec. August 2009, Örebro Concert Hall, Sweden
BIS-SACD-1769 [64:16]
As a glance at the titles for this release indicates, this is pretty much
an album of reconstructions. In his learned and usefully comprehensive booklet
notes, Geoffrey Burgess describes how Bach’s concertos for harpsichord can
be shown to have had other intended solo instruments, the oboe in particular,
in mind. Bach wrote more solos for the oboe into his cantatas than for any
other instrument, and so the lack of concertante works for the instrument
argues that several may have been lost or have only survived in other guises.
This is especially the case when considering that renowned oboe players such
as his brother Johann Jacob, and Johann Ludwig Rose and Caspar Gleditsch,
would have been available at different periods in the composer’s life.
This is not the first recording of this kind, and those by Hans-Peter
Westermann on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and Burkhard
Glaetzner on Berlin Classics are just a couple of other examples which
overlap in terms of content. The first half of this programme is a fascinating
collection, bringing disparate movements together to create new pieces. The
booklet notes don’t go into much detail about these lower BWV numbers, but
Bach’s early Weimar cantatas were certainly given enough challenging hautboy
solos to give their unnamed performer plenty to get his teeth into. These
amount to impressively substantial works which give a refreshing new look
to some excellent music. The Adagio from the Easter Oratorio earns
its place as a movement in its own right, its existence as a possible original
slow movement of BWV 1055 having also been proposed by musicologist
and oboist Bruce Haynes, so with this disc you can even do some reshuffling
and find out which version you prefer for yourself.
Whatever the sources and arguments for re-creating and restoring what might
be imagined to have been Bach’s original intentions, these performances are
never anything less than entirely convincing. There are a few familiar movements,
but hearing them in this context and played with such stylish expressive prowess
as with Alexei Ogrintchouk there is no real sense of repetition or over-use
of well known warhorses. The best known individual concertos are the final
two on the disc, starting with BWV 1055. Even here there is variety
built-in, Alexei Ogrintchouk taking the oboe d’amore, with its lower, richer
tones. The lively tempi and crisp playing of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra,
harpsichord continuo included, is very bright sounding, and these performances
are all expertly done and beautifully phrased. The Double Concerto from BWV
1060 also works very well, the lovely refined solos of Alina Ibraginova’s
violin winding their way around the Adagio lines of the oboe in a way
which can seem quite sensual at times.
As we have come to expect from Bis over the years, the recording of this programme
is superb. The oboe is close, but not beyond realistic balance and credibility,
and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra is beefy enough to provide more than adequate
backing. The SACD quality is fairly understated, developing clarity and sense
of line with the increased spatial separation, but with a recording which
also serves superbly in straightforward stereo. Alexei Ogrintchouk’s tone
is attractively rounded, always expressive and beautifully phrased, and with
an effortless and breezy way of taking flight with the music which makes him
‘invisible’ in technical terms, masterful in the way in which he leads the
band in interpretations which I have a feeling will be the standard to beat
for many years to come.
Dominy Clements
A standard which will be hard to beat.