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a thoroughly instructive and engaging BAL; a fine example of what makes this particular slice of Saturday such a national treasureAccording to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.Comment
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It was an excellent introduction to a beautiful piece of music and fascinating to hear oboes in variety. National treasure seconded.Comment
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Agreed, though I felt that the work survived variations in speeds etc better than many other BaL subjects. All the clips (nearly all?Originally posted by aka Calum Da Jazbo View Post
) sounded like the Strauss Oboe Concerto - kinda indestructible
FWIW I reckon Goossens (2 copies, different couplings), Holliger/ De Waart and the one in the Kempe box will do me...I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!Comment
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Agreed absolutely! It's a big favourite of mine....Strauss always at his best IMO when not being obsessed by biographical, geographical ((sorry Alps!) or nationalistic thoughts. Interesting how in UK orchestras, oboists' tone changed (c.1960?) from thin and reedy to more rounded and mellifluous.Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View PostComment
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Turns out that on further inspection, I have three versions in addition to the above - Holliger with the Philharmonia, Sawallisch’s version in Philadelphia with the orchestra’s principal Richard Woodhams (still available apparently Alpie http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strauss-Ein-.../dp/B000002RWI - perhaps worth adding to the #1 list?), and …Originally posted by Caliban View Post
…the Tonhalle/Zinman version that was one of the reviewer’s “last two” - I had no idea that I had the latter, nestling in the light blue Strauss box that I bought for a song second-hand some time back.
I thought this was one of the best BALs of recent times - I was absorbed throughout, realising that with Koch/Karajan and Holliger/de Waart, I’ve not really been hearing the best of this work. I must listen to the Tonhalle performance… but going through the extracts, it was the excellent RLPO reading that made the biggest impression.
Fascinating to hear all the different oboe sounds, and most enjoyable to be enlightened by a reviewer in such an unmannered and beautifully-expressed way, based on real knowledge (I was listening intently for the effects of those differently-scraped american reeds!)
Surprising that the Clement/Kempe recording from Dresden was entirely overlooked, perhaps - I must listen to that again too.
And hilarious to hear that silly camp performance from the Frenchman Leleux *, with all the fussiness in Harding’s direction
… his conducting afflicted by “the rubato bug” said the reviewer - known to musical science as Rattleitis, I think… 
So I agree - 50 minutes showing Radio 3 at its absolute best, I thought!
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EDIT: in the interests of balance, and based on the selection of reviews on the PrestoClassical site, one ought to point out that supposedly wiser folk than I thought differently about Leleux's performance:
“Leleux's playing...captures the music's underlying calm serenity to near-perfection...Daniel Harding conducts a fine orchestral accompaniment, and the performances of the wind works nicely match the music's freshness.” Classic FM Magazine, February 2011 ****
“All the music is beautifully played here, with Francois Leleux leading the Ensemble Paris-Bastille spontaneously and elegantly. The Oboe Concerto is a live recording but all three works enjoy an ideal acoustic and are beautifully balanced.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011
“Leleux's performance is marvellous. He draws the creamiest tone from his Marigaux instrument...I don't think I've heard as convincing a performance as this.” International Record Review, January 2011
“Strauss’s late Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra is one of the most perfect works...In Leleux, a player to rank beside Holliger and Nicholas Daniel, it finds an ideal exponent, full-toned and intellectually agile; and, in Harding, a conductor alert to every rhythmic nuance, and willing to indulge touching little string portamenti.” Sunday Times, 12th December 2010 ***
“[Leleux's] performance of the Oboe Concerto, with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony, is one of the finest on disc...Leleux's phrasing...rapturous yet infinitely sad, also reminds us that this is a work written in the aftermath of the second world war...Beautiful and hugely recommended.” The Guardian, 11th November 2010 ****
“Equally inspired by Mozart are the much earlier wind ensemble pieces from the beginning of Strauss's career...has a Mozartian lightness and grace, captured here by François Leleux in playing that is not overpressured but lyrical and rhapsodically detailed.” The Observer, 31st October 2010
Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice...
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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What was the 'winner'? Haven't listened to the programme yet, & the Essential Classics play list doesn't say.Comment
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This one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strauss-Sinf.../dp/B0009A4110 - Jonathan Small, RLPO cond. Gerard SchwarzOriginally posted by Flosshilde View Post"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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And IIRC Amazon have gone from in stock at around 10 quid to 1 to 3 weeks for £17.51...... I suppose we have to pay the EU surcharge somehow.......Originally posted by Caliban View PostComment
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Well it is a double CD album, and you can get it for a little less (new) via the marketplace.Originally posted by antongould View PostComment
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I don't see how she could miss out on the Clement-Kempe recording. It may only be part of a larger box set, but the price being so cheap, it is the bargain of bargains.
The winner is also part of a 2 CD set, so it should have been included especially as one has one of the finest oboists of his generation and one of the two or three greatest Strauss interpreters of the 20th Century.
Kempe scales the Dresden Staatskapelle down into a fine sounding chamber ensemble, the sound quality is exceptional in the new Warners re-mastering and Mr Clement, who was principal oboe at the Bavarian State Opera for many years plays with great delicacy and wit.
His sound is the more rich creamy european style that first came to prominence with Lothar Koch, but he(Clement) plays with greater suppleness and energy.
At 22 pounds 47 pence for the box set - all 9 CDs - is there a better Strauss offer around at the moment.
No offence to the winner - but it pales by comparison to this one.
My two best friends were professional oboists, and I have spent almost 50 years learning their trade. So I also know of what I speak.
My great regret is that the late great Janet Craxton never recorded this work.Comment
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Well, there are a lot of great Oboists, and virtually no other Concertos by famous Composers for their instrument.Originally posted by visualnickmos View PostComment
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Very good BAL I thought and unlike so many instrumentalists who review she does not seem to be obsessed with how they would play it themselves as she seemed to like several markedly different performances .
I rather enjoyed the extracts from the indulgent Nicholas Daniel recording though
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