Customer Reviews

Zelenka: Sonatas for two oboe & bassoon (Vol 1) Nos V, VI, II /Ensemble Zefiro

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Some late baroque compositions can tend towards the formulaic - but with Zelenka inventiveness and interesting harmonies usually add up to something original.

Zelenka's six trio sonatas for oboe and bassoon are of the highest quality, so if you are unaquainted with them I can assure you they are worth getting to know. There are a number of recordings available, but if you want to hear all the wonderful lines woven together to best effect try these assured period performances by Rinaldo Alessandrini and Ensemble Zefiro. (Also compare the approach of Heinz Holliger, ECM #462542).

Ensemble Zefiro have recorded all six sonatas, available over two CDs:

- Trio Sonatas V, VI and II on Astree #8511
- Trio Sonatas I, III and IV on Astree #8563

Sonata V is especially worth hearing.

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679 - 1745): Sonatas for Two Oboes and Bassoon with Obligatory Continuo (1715-1716). Volume 1: Sonatas 5, 6 and 2. Performed by Paolo Grazzi and Alfredo Bernadini, baroque oboe; Alberto Grazzi, baroque bassoon; Roberto Sensi, double bass; Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord; Rolf Lislevand, theorbo. Recorded at the Villa Schiarino in Mantua/Italy in February 1993. First published in 1993 by Auvidis as Astrée E 8511. Total playing time: 51'57".

My attention was first drawn to this disc when it won "Disc of the Month" status in a German-language Early Music magazine. There are two aspects which make this CD (and its "twin", Vol. 2) particularly attractive. One is the continuing discovery of the music of Jan Dismas Zelenka (the emphasis goes on the first syllable of his surname), who was for most of his life director of sacred music at the Court of the King of Poland and Saxony in Dresden. Composers working at this Court were not allowed to publish their music, with the result that Zelenka's marvellous works lay dormant for some 200 years before experiencing something of a revival towards the end of the 20th century. Most of his music consists of sacred and choral works, of course, but he did leave a body of instrumental compositions, too, and these have found some enthusiastic interpreters: Zelenka: Trio Sonatas(Klaus Thunemann and Heinz Holliger) Zelenka: Complete Orchestral Works, Vol 2 /Das Neu-Eroffnete Orchestre * Sonnentheil. The Sonatas for Two Oboes and Bassoon are really lovely works, most of them in the Sonata da Chiesa mode with four movements, and containing some luxuriously long melody lines and some incredibly virtuoso passage-work for the solo instruments - I don't think I have ever heard a bassoon being played quite so masterfully (and rapidly) as on this recording!

Which leads me to the second reason for recommending this disc: Both the playing and the engineering are impeccable. The musicians involved here are all specialists in the world of early music with considerable numbers of successful CDs to their credit, and it seems to be an ideal combination here, with Rinaldo Alessandrini and Rolf Lislevand providing an energetic, enthusiastic sonic underlay for the beautifully-captured and balanced playing of the three marvellous soloists.

Unfortunately, the disc is comparatively short (under 52 minutes) - one could go on listening to this for hours!