Kwak

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.

Antonio Pasculli (1842-1924) was part of an obscure generation of 19th century Italian wind virtuosos whose music, though popular in his own time, faded as the 20th century approached. Audiences then (as now) preferred the piano or the violin or cello as the instrument of choice in the field of the solo concerto. Composing works (sonatas, concertos, etc.) for wind instruments became mostly an Italian mode, the province of composers who drew from the rich thematic material provided by the opera. The wind repertoire thus became filled with fantasias on themes from the operas of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, and were often preferred by the Italian public over solo vocal adaptations.

Renowned for his rich production in the field of orchestral music, Kalevi Aho is also a prolific composer for chamber forces. On this disc, three works spanning two decades have been combined.