Contemporary Oboe

Grammy Award-winner Alex Klein, former principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performs sonatas that signify the oboe’s 20th-century reemergence as a brilliant solo instrument. One of the world’s most famous oboe players, Klein says he waited to acquire a professional lifetime’s worth of experience before putting his stamp on the six sonatas heard here.

Joseph Celli - Organic Oboe (1978) {O.O. Discs #1 rel 1991- Stockhausen, Celli, Goldstein, and Schwartz}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 190 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 99 Mb
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© 1978, 1991 OODiscs | O.O. DISCS #1
Classical / Electronic / Modern Classical / Avant-Garde / Minimal / Oboe / English Horn

Premiere American recording of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Joseph Celli , Malcolm Goldstein, and Elliott Schwartz. Wonderful performances by Joseph Celli in this historic recording re-released on CD. Contains the only American release of Stockhausen's "Spiral" (1968) for soloists on short-wave radio and other instruments, Celli's "Sky:S for J" (1976), Elliott Schwartz' "Extended Oboe" (1973-74) for oboe and electronic tape, and Malcolm Goldstein's "A Summoning of Focus" (1977) for wind instruments.

The disc opens with the concerto, a five movement work lasting 31 ½ minutes and is performed by the soloist who gave the works premier in April 2008. The work is one of contrasts with the first movement Lamento sounding quite oriental, with the oboe almost sounding like a muezzin over the top of the orchestra.

Canadian Works for Oboe and Piano is a sweeping 2-CD compilation of fine Canadian repertoire for oboe and piano from the past 70 years. A celebration in honour of Canada’s sesquicentennial, the collection highlights the oboe’s personal, singing quality and is unified by the lyrical essence of all the works. This recording includes several Canadian oboe classics, three new works created especially for this project, three new arrangements of existing pieces, and a few interesting discoveries, including the world premiere of a work written some 40 years ago by a major composer but never performed live. The two discs feature an even mix of sonatas, shorter stand-alone works, and what could be considered suites. With one exception, all the works on these discs are receiving their first recorded performances here.

The present release features a series of works for oboe and accordion by six different contemporary composers. They have been written on the request of the oboist Enrico Calcagni for the duo he forms with the accordionist Maurizio De Luca. Despite the difference in each composer’s style, these works have in common the same plain and comprehensible language, making them very pleasant to listen to.

Osvaldas Balakauskas is one of the most prolific Lithuanian composers; his oeuvre includes five symphonies, more than ten concertos, a chamber opera, a ballet and numerous other, mostly chamber instrumental compositions. On this original BIS records are a few of his chamber concertos.

This twelfth release in the Toccata Classics exploration of the music of Ferenc Farkas (1905–2000) once again puts his chamber music with flute in the spotlight – here with an oboe chaser. As with previous albums in this series, the music highlights the characteristics that make Farkas’ music so appealing: catchy tunes, transparent textures, buoyant rhythms, a fondness for Baroque forms and a taste for the folk-music of his native Hungary that marks him out as a true successor to Bartók and Kodály. The works in this recording are almost all reworkings – by Farkas or the two soloists here – of music first written for different forces and now taking on a new lease of life.

Heinz Holliger is widely considered the greatest oboe virtuoso of modern times. He is also a noted composer and conductor; as a composer he is one of the few who has maintained a strict adherence to serial procedures. Holliger has been the recipient of many prizes, including the Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau in Germany, and he is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

An hour of music for solo oboe, anyone? Don't knock it until you try it. This album is an exemplary effort not only by the somehow appropriately named oboist Yeon-Hee Kwak but also by the engineers at Germany's MDG label, who provide a resonant castle-hall setting that perfectly illuminates (resonates?) the registral effects on which oboe music depends. The program is diverse and challenges both Kwak's technical and expressive abilities, opening with Bach, whose absolute music transcended the distinction. The Partita for solo oboe, BWV 1013, is a transcription of a partita for solo flute, and the concluding Tango-Etudes of Astor Piazzolla were also originally flute works.