Paul Goodwin, oboe; The King’s Consort; Robert King, conductor
Hyperion CDA66383; reissued as Helios CDH55349
Albinoni inevitably suffers when placed beside Vivaldi. The latter is flashier, more rhythmically driven and quicker to seize the listener’s attention. Yet this intelligently arranged collection demonstrates that Albinoni possessed something his more famous Venetian contemporary did not always seek: an instinctive feeling for long, gracefully sustained melody. Vivaldi supplies the brilliance; Albinoni supplies the poetry.
The heart of the recording is Albinoni’s D-minor Oboe Concerto, Op. 9 No. 2. Paul Goodwin plays the period oboe with a firm, attractive tone, avoiding both the nasal severity and expressive fussiness that can afflict performances on the instrument. His phrasing in the Adagio is beautifully controlled. He allows Albinoni’s soaring line to speak naturally, without trying to inflate this intimate music into something grander than it is. The concertos for two oboes in G major and C major are equally rewarding, particularly in their slow movements, where suspensions and interweaving melodic lines create music of remarkable tenderness.
The unusual Albinoni concerto for trumpet, three oboes, bassoon and continuo provides a welcome change of color. It is hardly a neglected masterpiece, but its outdoor, ceremonial character makes an effective bridge to Vivaldi’s more extroverted concertos. The two C-major works for pairs of oboes and clarinets, RV 559 and RV 560, sparkle in the hands of The King’s Consort. Robert King keeps the textures buoyant and transparent, allowing the wind instruments to answer, imitate and occasionally challenge one another without turning the music into a scramble. Vivaldi’s F-major Oboe Concerto, RV 455, closes the program with appropriately theatrical energy.
The performances have freshness without haste and refinement without preciousness. Goodwin is a persuasive advocate for Albinoni, whose lyrical gifts emerge more clearly here than they do in many complete surveys of the Op. 7 and Op. 9 concertos. The recording, made in 1990, remains warm, detailed and well balanced.
This is much more than a pleasant anthology of Venetian wind music. It is an unusually successful pairing in which each composer reveals the particular strengths of the other. Anyone who knows Albinoni principally through the celebrated—and spurious—Adagio will discover a far more interesting composer here.
Recommended.
