Customer Reviews

Albinoni: Complete Concertos, Op. 9

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You can't miss with the combination of any baroque composition and a performance by I Musici. Their superb musicianship and interpretation of this type of music hasn't been equaled.

Recorded in '67, Opus 9 is 4 sets of concertos, each starting with one for solo violin (Felix Ayo), then one for oboe (Heinz Holliger), and ending with one for 2 oboes (Maurice Bourque plays the 2nd oboe). This beautiful music from 18th Cent. Venice is a delight, and this CD finishes with the famous Adagio for Organ, played by Maria Theresa Garatti, and recorded in 1960. Familiar to many ears because of its use in films, etc. (like "Gallipoli"), with its soaring, gorgeous melody that will uplift any soul. At one time I had several recordings of this piece, but when you've got the best (this one), why mess with the rest.

The packaging on this 2 disc CD set is minimal, with a small info booklet, and the dreaded jewel case with the center flap to release the 2nd CD (oh ! I hate those center flaps), but this is great stuff, and worth flipping the flap for.

Once again, I Musici demonstrates how Baroque music can be played so richly on modern instruments. The performances have panache and style: a rhythmic kick and energy in the fast movements, and wistful lyricism in the slow movements without being syrupy. A must-buy for all lovers of Baroque music.

This is a re-issue of recordings made in the mid 1960s, so they are 40 years old; however the sound, while not as good as one can expect from a current CD, is quite good. Albiboni's Opus 9 is a set of 12 concertos, 4 for violin, four for oboe and four for two oboes with orchestra. They are in 5 parts, and rather simple when compared with Bach, for example. They are not written for virtuoso soloists, rather for oboe with orchestra. In my opinion the violin concertos, while pleasant enough, do not compare with those of his contempories, such as vivaldi and Bach. However the oboe concertos are outstanding, and while I could nominate the odd baroque 0boe concerto that is as good or better, the set of six stand alone.
The 12 concertos are played by I Musici, a long established modern instrument group that specialises in music of this period, the violin solo is by Felix Ayo, their first violin, and the oboes are played my the great Heinz Hollinger and Maurice Bourgue. So I can find little to criticise with the performance, I Musici and Hollinger were/are world class. Deciding on a rating was not easy, but taking the recording of Opus 9 as a whole I gave it 4 and feel a little mean, the 6 oboe concertos alone would get 5.

I Musici is rivaled perhaps only by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields when it comes to predictably crystalline performances of the Baroque masters. When I Musici, Felix Ayo, Heinz Holliger, and Maurice Bourge turn to Albinoni's concerto repertoire, the outcome is never in doubt.

Let me clarify that these comments do not in any way suggest that this Philips two-disk set is 'standard' in any pedantic way. Emphatically, it is not.

Rather, the artists team with Philips' Duo Series to render access to a masterful rendering of one of Early Baroque's unsung great ones affordable to the masses, of which this reviewer is a card-carrying member.

One can only say 'Bravo!'.

Where have you gone?.....I Musici. This innovative ,original baroque group still, thank goodness, plays on CD as it did on vinyl. This group of premiere musicians captures the essence of the baroque era. A sheer delight. And a MUST buy.Just lay back and enjoy musical history at its best!

I wish to start my review by warning Amazon shoppers about two previous and seemingly 'knowledgeable' reviews commenting on I Musici's qualifications for playing Baroque and not playing on traditional instruments as a discouragement in buying their performances as they are somewhat slanderous. Their comments actually make me laugh and question their range of listening experience in traditional Baroque techniques and instruments or knowledge of anything dealing with classical music at all since I Musici has not only been the most acclaimed Baroque ensemble in Italy and the entire world for over 50 years praised by legends such as Toscanini for being 'The best chamber orchestra in the world', the main reason its musicians and strings outmatch every other traditional Baroque group in the world is precisely because they masterfully perform on the most prized of all period string instruments in existence! String instruments that most professional violinists, cellists, etc., can only dream of ever playing in their lifetimes! A string instrument that only the most competent of players can master to bring out its fluid range and sound! I Musici performs all of their pieces almost exclusively on Stradivarius string instruments! Although other traditional ensembles do use traditional period instruments, few if any of them play on Stradivari, and if they do it will probably be just the lead violin as Stradivari are simply too rare to be played in unison by most professional groups. A Stradivarius is an instrument in and of itself and other traditional string instruments don't even come close to sounding like one. A Stradivarius is nothing less than divine in its sound as one can hear with I Musici as they play plenty of them. And so although I can understand the aesthetics of such listeners/reviewers for other performers, please, don't tell others that I Musici isn't playing authentic instruments when you can't even recognize a Stradivarius playing in your ear! You are simply embarassing yourselves. Or, for that matter, don't say that they can't competently play 'traditional' Italian Baroque when they're the best group from Italy, comprised of experts in the Italian Baroque and Romantic traditions, virtuously playing on many Stradivari, and have been acclaimed as one of the best Italian Baroque groups in the world by reknown classical experts and laypersons alike for over five decades! As for this recording and others in general, some reviewers have also complained that I Musici's somewhat more romantic interpretations of Baroque don't work with Albinoni's music such as his Adagio and so are not 'traditional' enough in comparison to other performances. Traditional interpretation of Albinoni's 'Adagio' would be absurd since Albinoni's original 'Adagio' is a horribly deficient piece of which there are no real performances that I can think of as a result. What is ironic then is that this model of Albinoni's 'traditionalism' such reviewers are referring to can only be Remo Giazotto's popular 19th Century Romantic revision of the 'Adagio' being presently used as the standard of every single Baroque or Romantic period performance available on the market today.

I have heard various renditions of Albinoni's Concertos, Op. 9 and, besides a few other performances by Baroque groups, I have not heard many that even compare to I Musici in performing Albinoni or Italian Baroque generally. Don't be deceived into buying other performances even if they are by great conductors and symphonies such as Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic or Solti and the Chicago/London Symphonies. And Karajan's orchestral rendition is indeed a very moving one but orchestral ensembles are generally too large for chamber pieces and most of the instruments used are modern which changes many important aspects of the piece. They are also recorded in too large of spaces so the performances sound like Beethoven's 9th instead of a chamber piece. There are other groups and recordings that are more faithful to Baroque techniques and traditional interpretations such as those directed by Hogwood but they have various problems as well. Individual violinists such as Manze mentioned by the previous reviewer tend to be overly rigid and lifeless in their interpretations as they are more founded in musicological disciplines on ancient instruments and techniques as opposed to professional performance. This can be problematic especially with interpreting Italian Baroque which is always more freely expressive in mood than German Baroque. This results in clumsy and lifeless performances where each musician painfully over-accentuates the proper techniques throughout the entire piece so that it comes out sounding as a tedious cacophony instead of a symphony. Like Jack says in the 'Witches of Eastwick' to Susan Sarandon playing her cello, "You kill the passion!" by such emphasis. Hogwood's musical background is also founded more in the German Baroque tradition of Bach and Handel and not Italian Baroque and so turns the piece into more of a mechanical movementby Bach from his direction on the harpsichord which is always the meter in all Italian concerti. I Musici is comprised of some of the finest classical musicians alive today who emphasize more on a passionate Italian Romantic interpretation in their performances instead of a rigid Baroque one and the results are most delightful to the ears. That perhaps is the only flaw in its interpretation of the often over-methodical Italian Baroque style for the concerti grossi. Although I Musici usually tends to again use a more fluid Italian Romantic style rather than a strict Baroque one, their shortcomings in that field are hardly a defect in their performances or this recording: on the contrary, they enhance them! These slight shortcomings are more than compensated for by I Musici performing with some of the best classical musicians exclusively on original Stradivarius string instruments. Such groups also tend to use traditional stringing and playing techniques that limit the range of the instrument which is not always what the composer desired such as Mozart and Beethoven who were forced to accept the limited range and tonality of the piano forte in performing their compositions but who actually composed them with a yet non-existant Steinway in mind. I Musici in a sense compliments such limitations with some Romantic techniques in the style of Paganini but following the Baroque concerti grossi tradition with period instruments and in remaining within the size of a small Baroque chamber orchestra. Also, the musical cohesion and caliber of the performers in I Musici is such that they do not use an overt conductor even at the harpsichord: they therefore have no need of one such as Hogwood to lead them and the performances have less hesitations as a result. Lastly, I Musici di Roma is also known for having some of the best sound engineering and mixing for its recordings than any other chamber group and this also applies to the earliest recordings. The recording quality for their performances is so rich and clear for each instrument being played that you actually feel as if you are at a live performance each time you hear them.

I Musici di Roma is unequivocally one of the best, if not the best, performing groups for Baroque music and you won't go wrong buying any of their performances no matter whether the composers are from the Italian or German Baroque period. I certainly haven't heard any single group or orchestra even come close to matching their 1982 performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Pina Carmirelli. This particular recording with Garatti and Ayo is probably not with one of the best violinists to have performed Italian Baroque with them such as Carmirelli or Acardo but it is accompanied with some of the best musicians in their class such Hollinger. It is a great buy!

This album was always a favourite of mine when issued on LP.
If you want just one CD SET of Albinoni this is the one to have. All the pieces are beautifully played with that touch of ELEGANCE for which this group is noted.The CD remastering is up to the usual high standards we have come to expect from Philips.
Altogether a wonderful addition to my collection.

As one who loves classical music but is not a musician, I found this album of less well-known Albinoni oboe/violin concertos to be quite enjoyable. It pairs well with the better-known concertos of Opus 9. While less sophisticated, it is eminently listenable and I recommend it to lovers of Baroque music.

Tomaso Albinoni is best known for his Adagio, that is actually an arrangement by Giazzoto. His real masterpieces are the Concertos Opus 9(recorded here by I Musici). The sound of this recording is very good considering its age (mid 1950s and 1960s). The Concerto Op. 9/2 is the most beautiful oboe concerto ever composed. Heinz Holliger is explendid as soloist. If you like baroque music played in a old-fashioned way (rather romantic), it's for you. If you like baroque music played accordind "authentic baroque techniques it's not for you.

I've never been a huge fan of classical music for the most part, however there are exceptions, and Albinoni is the exception. This CD set is absolutely amazing, and it makes me happy each and every time I hear it. Overall the sound quality is amazing, and there are plenty of songs included on these discs, so you can listen for a long time without running out of music. For your money, this is a great buy. If you love Albinoni as I do, you really can't go wrong for the price, given the amount of music that you get in one place. Everytime I order an a multi-track CD, I worry that I'll be disappointed somehow; such was not the case here. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys this composer or classical music in general. As I said, I'm not even a huge classical music fan, and I love this work. The only very small "flaw" I found on this set is that you can sometimes hear a little bit of various instrumental noise while instruments are being played during the more quiet moments of the musical compositions, and also there is a tiny bit of noise in between tracks, during the transition to a new track. Perhaps this is due to a mixing error, I'm not sure. However, I still give this 5 stars because the noise is minimal, and unless you're an extremely Type A musical lister, it shouldn't bother you at all. I'm only mentioning it to be thorough, because I noticed it while listening. But, obviously, it didn't make the music any less enjoyable. Also, the excerpts provided give a pretty thorough overview of what's included, so if you like those, then you'll love the CD. Do yourself a favor and add this to your collection.