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Antonio VIVALDI
(1675-1741)
Concertos for Oboe and Strings: A minor, F. VII, No. 13 [9.30];
D major, F. VII, No. 10 [7.23]; C major, F VII, No. 6 [14.00]; A
Minor, F.VII, No. 5 [9.04]; F Major, F. VII, No. 12 [12.34]; D Minor,
F. VII, No. 1 [7.59]; C Major, F. VII, No. 11 [10.07]; F Major,
F. VII, No. 2 [7.48]
Alex Klein (oboe)
New Brandenburg Collegium/Anthony Newman
rec. 1 -3 September 1993, Performing Arts Center, SUNY, Purchas,
NY
CEDILLE FOUNDATION CDR7003 [75.00] 
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Vivaldi wrote 17 complete concertos for oboe and strings. These
are highly demanding and the oboe repertory would not use such
techniques again for 100 years. We don’t really know who
they were written for. It is unlikely that the Venetian oboe
virtuosos Albinoni and Marcello played them, as we would then
have expected to find similar demanding playing techniques in
their own concertos. The works are simply far more virtuosic
and difficult than Albinoni’s famous concerto.
So it would seem that Vivaldi did write them for his pupils
at La Pietà. In his CD booklet note, oboist Alex Klein
suggests that each concerto has a distinctive didactic point;
each concerto having at least one item of peculiarity to distinguish
it from its companions. So presumably Vivaldi was writing the
pieces to encourage and train a particularly good team of oboists
- his catalogue includes three concertos for two oboes.
On this disc we have eight concertos played by Alex Klein who
was principal oboist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from
1995 to 2004. Klein plays a contemporary oboe and is accompanied
by the modern instrument group, the New Brandenburg Collegium,
conducted by the baroque specialist Anthony Newman. The disc
was recorded in 1993 and originally issued in 1995 but does
not seem to have made it into the main review journals at the
time.
The big selling point of the disc is Klein’s wonderful
oboe sound: rich, luxuriant with great technical facility, no
baroque gurgling here. Speeds are brisk, but never rushed and
Klein’s playing is poised. He has complete control in
the fast passages. The slower movements are full of beautifully
spun lines. This is highly expressive playing; made even more
so by the fine depth of sound that he brings to the solo line.
If we have to have baroque music played on modern instruments
then it should be like this.
The New Brandenburg Collegium sound to be a relatively small
group and they provide crisply articulated accompaniments, with
plenty of off-string bowing and a nice bounce. They manage to
make their playing style seem natural, and not an artificial
construct trying to mimic baroque techniques. The results are
highly seductive and I cannot praise the disc too highly. Newman
directs with brisk confidence.
If you enjoy baroque music played with the best contemporary
techniques on modern instruments then this disc is for you.
And if you generally don’t like modern instrument performances,
then do try this one as the player’s technique and sound
are so entrancing. Alex Klein’s beautifully toned account
of the virtuosic solo parts contributes to a highly seductive
whole.
Robert Hugill
see also review by Kevin
Sutton
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