Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado – Mozart: Oboe Concerto; Haydn: Sinfonia concertante (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado – Mozart: Oboe Concerto; Haydn: Sinfonia concertante (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:44 minutes | 744 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Claves Records

It all started at the end of a beautiful summer’s day in August 2010: the telephone rings, Lucas Macias Navarro, solo oboe of the Concertgebow Amsterdam, is on the line: “Hi Pat! Would you be interested in recording Mozart’s Oboe Concerto with the Mozart Orchestra, conducted by… Claudio Abbado?”
Knowing the musician to be a tease at times, I first thought it was a joke, but Lucas confirms: it is indeed a serious proposition!

Even though the Claves catalogue includes such brilliant names as Fischer-Dieskau, Teresa Berganza or the English Chamber Orchestra, it is true that a project such as this is quite something in a catalogue that prides itself with rare recordings, young interpreters, and also promotes and broadcasts the Swiss musical scene.
After all, it is rather as if, in 1980, the flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal had made a proposal to our founder, Marguerithe Dütschler, to record a Mozart concerto conducted by Herbert von Karajan…
Needless to say, the answer was yes, and thanks to donations from a very generous patron, the recording was planned in Spain, three years later.

One definition of Allegro aperto, the direction in the first movement of the Oboe Concerto, reads ‘an allegro with broad, clear phrasing’; and broad, clear phrasing is what you get from Claudio Abbado. But he isn’t as successful in equilibrating liveliness with breath and his stately tempo doesn’t always appear to sit well with Lucas Macías Navarro. If he had preferred a degree of élan he gets it in the last movement, though Abbado doesn’t clarify the orchestral texture as well as he might. But a meeting of minds in the Adagio non troppo makes many amends.

Five minds meet at every turn in the Sinfonia concertante, supremely crafted at every turn by Haydn (notice the soloists’ entry in the first movement, not with the first subject but with the second), Abbado persuading his musicians to share his patently clear love of the work. Gentle warmth abounds in the first movement, brass mostly stay in the background, timpani rumble. But instrumental balance, concertino vs ripieno, is as it ought to be, the Andante lyrically, even yearningly shaped. If you were expecting a finale similar in cast to the first movement, Abbado surprises with terser attack, prominent brass and better-present timpani. He contours this marvellous work as he feels it. It’s a valid view, as is that of Frans Brüggen, whose period-instrument performance has a sharper profile. Then there’s Thomas Fey, concentrated, snappy and inviting invective; but an interpretation of great distinction all the same. –Nalen Anthoni, Gramophone

Tracklist:
01. Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado – Oboe Concerto in C Major, K. 314: I. Allegro aperto (07:12)
02. Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado – Oboe Concerto in C Major, K. 314: II. Adagio non troppo (07:08)
03. Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado – Oboe Concerto in C Major, K. 314: III. Rondo. Allegretto (05:35)
04. Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado – Sinfonia Concertante in B-Flat Major, Hob. I:105: I. Allegro (09:30)
05. Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado – Sinfonia Concertante in B-Flat Major, Hob. I:105: II. Andante (04:55)
06. Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado – Sinfonia Concertante in B-Flat Major, Hob. I:105: III. Allegro con spirito (06:21)

Personnel:
Lucas Macías Navarro, oboe
Gregory Ahss, violin
Konstantin Pfiz, cello
Guilhaume Santana, bassoon
Orchestra Mozart
Claudio Abbado, conductor

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