Customer Reviews

Zelenka: Sonatas for two oboe & bassoon (Vol 2) Nos I, III, IV /Ensemble Zefiro

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The Zefiro ensemble gives more than a polished performance of these engaging Zelenka sonatas. The players display a fine sense of ensemble unlike many North American performances of early music by "jobbers" who get together once a year for a week and collect a check at the end. Zefiro exhibits a mature sense of sonority by keeping manipulation of sound to a minimum. (unlike, once again, many American trained oboists who are obsessed with sonority to a point where it obscures music.) Their understanding of the historical instruments allows the sinewy lines of the music to shine and engross the listener.

I foresee some woodwind players being unhappy with these performances, complaining that the playing is too legato and the lines and phrases being too long and the sonority too much the same throughout. But I think it is very refreshing when compared to earlier performances of the same works by Dombrecht, Ebbinge et al. that were angular and "epic" (and Germanic?). Certainly give these recordings a try, I believe you will be pleased.

These masterful sonatas are a treasure from the XVIII Century, as important as any music by Bach. Zelenka must be ranked next to Bach, Handel, Rameau and Vivaldi as one of the pillars of the Baroque period. These sonatas have been recorded before, but no other version is as consistently satisfying as the Zefiro Ensemble's.