No Strings Attached
No Strings Attached
Le Petite Écurie performs concertos, an overture, and sonatas for oboe band on Arcana
This album warmed my heart as I am lovingly realizing I am falling for another composer other than Biber. Yes. Henry Purcell is represented here in the opening with his Curtain Tune on a Ground from his Timon of Athens. It’s enhanced with percussion and while an arrangement, it’s good stuff. And so nicely played!
The first major work on this album is a Sonata by Boismortier, from his op. 34. While the original may have been realized by recorders and harpsichord and gamba, the roles are nicely brought to life here with bassoon and three oboes. The third movement, marked Largo is a real delight, all the suspensions bringing harmonic drama to the fore.
Percussion joins the group again with an arrangement of Handel’s fourth concerto gross from his op. 3 in F (HWV 315). The regality brought about from the oboes and percussion might be further enhanced with a full string ensemble with trumpets, for a real festival, but really, this arrangement is perfectly noble on its own. It’s hard not to think about his Water Music, too, honestly, or even his Music for the Royal Fireworks. In the third movement, marked Allegro I was in want for a little more sauce in the continuo department. Not sure if a large bass lute ever came for the ride with an oboe band, but… I supposed authenticity means something here.
The next arrangement is by Louis-Antoine Dornel, a quartet-sonata in A minor. The opening movement is one of those that tries, to my ears, mimic the flavor of an overture, with alternating tempi. Then three more movements follow (fast-slow-fast). The piece is from 1709. The booklet doesn’t give me sufficient information about the piece. They opt, instead, for a fictional account around a personality experiencing the music. Historical notes aside, the French spirit is alive in this piece, from the ornamentation in the second movement, to the slowly unfolding harmonies in the third. The appearance of counterpoint in the last movement is interesting, and musically speaking, nice, in terms of the stylistic idioms at work across the short piece. A delight.
Schieferdecker’s concerto is next, up to now, the most virtuosic piece on the disc. The liner notes do make mention of the composer’s advocacy for eschewing the strings and making arrangements of his works. The fury in the Concert movement brings out the fireworks for the strings, and here the oboes sound, well, unnatural with so many fast notes, but the band is on top form. They make it work and props go to their bassoonist Giovanni Battista Graziadio for his able fingers and lungs.
Another similar suite comes from Reinhard Keiser, a collection of theater tunes. The presentation is a world premier on record. As I let these new melodies and rhythms come to me, I am reminded of the sound quality of this recording—the photos in the booklet suggest it was recorded in a large room with high ceilings, but its décor aside (looking fancy, Padua!), the amount of reverb is very appropriate I think for winds; the percussion is far enough away that we get the sense of hearing this music in an outdoor setting. The spatial aspect of the band’s sound is a delight. Props to Fabio Framba, their engineer.
I should also note that percussionist Philipp Lamprecht keeps things interesting with more than just his timpani. The sparkle he provides in the Keiser menuett is perfect.
I’ll finish by quickly acknowledging the inclusion of a Vivaldi concerto, RV 153. Vivaldi of course wrote a small collection of chamber concerti for wind instruments. This isn’t one of them, instead being scored for strings. But in this arrangement, you might not know. The middle movement is a favorite of mine, and the texture of two violins with bass here is beautifully re-realized for oboes and bassoon.
All around, I found this album a breath (or more) of fresh air. Ha! The two ladies leading on this album Miriam Jorde Hompanera, Valerie Colen, with Marc Bonastre Riu, are fantastic baroque oboists. Wonderful concept, excellent execution, and all packaged with great sound. Really, no strings attached. Just great music.
