Pressures on Arts patronage
are nothing new. The post French Revolutionary
impact on courtly chamber orchestras
was significant and draining and the
central European private orchestras
that had previously flourished went
into something of a decline. Into this
vacuum came a demand for more modest
chamber ensembles and this disc illustrates
the point, especially with regard to
the – to us, perhaps– idiosyncratic
combination of the oboe trio. We can’t
date Beethoven’s example with absolute
accuracy but the first recorded performance
was in 1797 – and conjecturally it was
written two years earlier.
Fluent, carefully crafted
and elegant this is Beethoven in confident
if sometimes rather conventional mood,
with a bulky first movement with full
complement of repeats. The Adagio is
touching if somewhat aloof, but the
sonorities of elevated status, and the
Scherzo martial and jaunty. The fanfare
like finale is resplendent with unison
and single lines, and Beethoven’s convincing
marshalling of his three wind instrumentalists
almost without flaw. Coupled with his
Trio is the Variations on Là
ci darem la mano, wonderfully vivacious,
pert and clever and, of rather more
general interest, the Trio by his slightly
older Moravian contemporary, Anton Wranitzky
(born Vranický). The Bohemian-Viennese
diaspora was well established, the Moravian
equally well developed though somewhat
less recognised today. Wranitzky, however,
to accord him his German spelling, was
long admired in Vienna, a friend of
Beethoven, and with his older brother
Paul (violinist, composer and conductor
of the Esterházy Orchestra) a
leading musical light in the city. Anton
had studied with both Haydn and Mozart
and was later to rise to the position
of conductor of the Imperial Court Orchestra
and the Theater an der Wien. As with
Beethoven, professional association
with leading chamber players led to
works such as Wranitzky’s Trio. It’s
a genial and optimistic four-movement
work sporting a buoyant, sprightly first
movement Allegro section (after the
de rigueur Adagio introduction). Entertaining
and imaginative it manages to separate
lines with sufficient clarity and to
inject enough harmonic drama to sustain
interest. It’s essentially easy listening
music and none the worse for it.
The three American
oboists perform with expertise and flexibility
– there are only a very few trivial
moments when technical demands sound
intrusive - and Naxos have brought out
the warmth of their recording location,
St John’s Lutheran Church in Stamford,
Connecticut.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review
by John Leeman
Marc Schachman (oboe - principal oboe in
the Beethoven), John Abberger (oboe - principal
oboe in the Wranitzky) and Lani Spahr (cor anglais)