Heinz Holliger - Leclair, Marcello, Vivaldi, Telemann: Baroque Oboe Concertos (1988)

Famous Oboe Concertos" is a mistaken title to give a collection in which none of the works is really well-known and two of them not even specifically for oboe. Leelair's Concerto, for violin, flute or oboe, is a poised, elegant work, well worth including in the record; Vivaldi's D minor Concerto, for either violin or oboe, is a light, cheerful piece, very agreeable in manner without making any claims to greatness. The Telemann Concerto for oboe d'amore resurrects music for that most delightful of instruments, known really only by way of Bach's Passions, one or two orchestral works such as Strauss's Sinfonia Domestica and the Concerto which Tovey reconstructed from a Bach Clavier Concerto. It is a charming work, charmingly played here. The only concerto of the four which is at all familiar in the oboe repertory is Marcello's attractive piece. If the concertos are not very well-known, they deserve attention from collectors of some of the lesser and most pleasant kinds of eighteenth-century music. Holliger's performances are a delight, and the recording has the silky smoothness one has come to associate with the Dresden sessions of the VEB Deutsche Schallplatten. Cordially recommended.