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CD reviews
Oboe concertos & quartets
[I] Johann Wilhelm HERTEL (1727 - 1789): "Oboe Concertos"
Katarzyna Pilipiuk, oboe
Ensemble Il Vento
Dir: Katarzyna Pilipiuk
rec: March 2023, Cracow, Mogiła Abbey
Brilliant Classics - 97097 (© 2024) (62'56")
Liner-notes: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Concerto No. 2 in e minor;
Concerto No. 5 in g minora;
Concerto No. 6 in G;
Concerto No. 7 in g minor
Sources:
Zbigniew Pilch, Elżbieta Górka, Anna Hara-Pióro, Grzegorz Lalek, Natalia Moszumańska, Barbara Szpakiewicz, violin;
Małgorzata Muzyka-Gołogórska, Dymitr Olszewskia, viola;
Konrad Górka, cello;
Marek Lewandowski, double bass; Anna Huszczo, harpsichord
[II] Georg DRUSCHETZKY (1745 - 1819): "Oboe Quartets Vol. 2"
Grundmann-Quartett
rec: March 2 - 6, 2020, Berlin, Andreaskirche
CPO - 555 370-2 (© 2023) (80'50")
Liner-notes: E/D
Cover, track-list & booklet
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A quatro for oboe, violin, viola and cello in g minor;
Quartet for cor anglais, violin, viola and cello in B flat;
Quartet for oboe, violin, viola and cello in C;
Quartet for oboe, violin, viola and cello in D;
Quartet for oboe, violin, viola and cello in F (1807)
Quartet for oboe, violin, viola and cello in F (1808)
Eduard Wesley, oboe, cor anglais;
Ulrik Titze, violin;
Bettina Ihrig, viola;
Ulrike Becker, cello
Johann Wilhelm Hertel is one of the lesser-known composers from 18th-century Germany. Until recently, he was mainly known for some trumpet concertos. In recent years several discs have been released which reveal that he has written much more than those works. Especially on the label CPO vocal and instrumental works of various kinds have appeared which attest to the assessment of the German music scholar Ernst Ludwig Gerber that he was one of the "most tasteful composers" of the second half of the 18th century.
Hertel was born in Eisenach as the son of Johann Christian, a violinist, gambist and composer, who from 1733 was the Konzertmeister of the court orchestra. It is likely that Johann Wilhelm was taught the violin by his father. He also received keyboard lessons from a pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1742 Johann Christian was appointed as Konzertmeister of the court orchestra in Neustrelitz, and his son entered the orchestra as violinist and harpsichordist. He had close contact with musicians working at Frederick the Great's court in Berlin, and took violin lessons from Franz Benda. It brought him also into contact with poets who were representatives of the Enlightenment, such as Lessing and Ramler. Hertel became an exponent of the Enlightenment as well. He started to write for a magazine in Hamburg and was very interested in educating people in musical matters. In 1754 he entered the service of the court in (Mecklenburg-)Schwerin, where he stayed until his death, although the court chapel moved to Ludwigslust in 1767. He remained at the service of the court, and concentrated on composition, organising concerts at the court and musical education.
Hertel's oeuvre comprises sacred and secular vocal music, solo concertos, symphonies, chamber music and keyboard works. His concertos, in particular those for keyboard and for violin, and his symphonies are considered his most important and most original compositions. He also wrote some treatises, one of which about playing the basso continuo.
The disc under review here offers four of his oboe concertos. They are part of a collection of ten which is preserved in the library of the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels. The numbers of the concertos are those given in the manuscript. To date there is no catalogue of Hertel's works. Some of the concertos are dated. That does not indicate the style in which they are written.
The Concerto No. 2 in e minor, for instance, bears 1756 as the year of composition, but it is the most 'baroque' concerto of the four included here. It is the shortest, and here the oboe is prima inter pares, as was custom in baroque concertos: right from the start it plays with the strings, only to come forward in solo episodes. That is different in the Concerto No. 5 in g minor, which shows strong similarity with the concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The oboe does not participate in the ritornellos; in the opening movement, for instance, the oboe enters after an introduction of the strings which lasts about 1'15". Taking more than twenty minutes, it is the longest of the four. There is a closer connection between oboe and strings in the second-longest work, the Concerto No. 7, again in G minor. Here the oboe sometimes does participate in the tutti. Otherwise this concerto is stylistically close to No. 5. The character indication of the slow movement points in that direction: arioso con affetto. Another notable movement is the dark largo from the Concerto No. 2.
These four concertos, three of which are probably first recordings (*), are of high quality and a substantial addition to the repertoire of oboe concertos. One has to hope that they will become available in modern editions. And I also hope that other oboe concertos from the Brussels collection are going to be recorded. I am quite impressed by what we get here. That is not only thanks to the quality of the concertos but also due to the outstanding performances by Katarzyna Pilipiuk and the ensemble Il Vento. Pilipiuk has played in some of the main period instrument orchestras, such as the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Arte dei Suonatori and the Ensemble Zefiro. The latter's director, Alfredo Bernardini, has been one of her teachers. And that shows in her technically brilliant performances, her beautiful tone, and in her stylistic approach to these concertos. The playing is lively in the fast movements, and explores the expression in the slow movements. Il Vento is excellent in the tutti.
This disc is also a major contribution to our knowledge of the oeuvre of Johann Wilhelm Hertel, who deserves to be given a place among the main German composers of the mid-18th century.
Hertel's Concerto No. 5 points in the direction of the classical stye, and that is where the second disc brings us. CPO released a second disc with oboe quartets by Georg Druschetzky, one of many Bohemian composers who worked across Europe. It is the sequel to a disc that was released in 2019. Like the first volume, this disc offers five quartets, and includes several notable features.
Let us first have a look at his biography. Druschetzky studied the oboe with Carlo Besozzi in Dresden, and then joined the military as a musician, which brought him to, among others, Vienna and Linz. From 1768 to 1775 he was a regimental musician, ending his career as such in the position of Kapellmeister. In the mid-1780s he was in Vienna, where he was a member of the Tonkünstler-Societät. In 1786/87 he entered the service of Count Anton (Antal I) Grassalkovics at Pressburg (Bratislava), where he was responsible for the wind band. After the count's death in 1794, he moved to Pest, where he was in the service of Cardinal Battyány. Shortly after the turn of the century he became music director and composer for the wind octet of Archduke Joseph Anton Johann in Budapest.
Although Druschetzky composed a number of symphonies and a few solo concertos, music for wind band takes a special place in his oeuvre. The work-list in New Grove mentions "c150 partitas and serenades" for five to nine wind instruments. In addition he wrote many pieces for three basset horns and arranged chamber music by Beethoven (for instance his Septet op. 20) and large-scale works by Haydn (Die Schöpfung, Die Jahreszeiten) and Mozart (Die Zauberflöte). His chamber music includes a considerable number of string quartets as well as pieces for a wind instrument (oboe, horn, cor anglais) and strings.
Three quartets are dated by the composer: the Quartet in C and the two Quartets in F for November 1807 and January 1808 respectively. The Quartet in D, which opens the programme, may have been written in the 1780s, according to Ágnes Sas, who put together a chronological work-list, published in 1989. It is an unusual piece: one may call it a quartet for string trio with oboe, as the string parts are more virtuosic than the oboe part. This can be explained from the fact that Count Grassalkovics's orchestra included some highly-qualified players, such as Franz Krommer and the brothers Kraft; they would not have been satisfied to play easy stuff.
A second feature of this disc is the inclusion of two pieces which are different from the usual oboe quartet. The Quartet in B flat is for cor anglais and string trio. This results in a different sound spectrum, and a different connection between this instrument and the strings. The most unusual piece is the one called A quatro, which is in G minor, and consists of just one movement: a largo, which halfway is interrupted by a presto section. It may well be the earliest piece of this recording, dating from the late 1770s.
The liner-notes to this disc may be overly long and too talkative, but they include some interesting observations regarding the various works performed here. One of them is that Druschetzky is more adventurous in the harmonic department than authors have suggested. An example is the closing movement of the Quartet in B flat, another one a passage in the trio from the minuet of the Quartet in C. Also notable is the repetition of the entire exposition in the opening movement of the Quartet in F (1807), which is very unusual. Many movements contain some features that may stir the attention of the listener.
The first volume was an ear-opener, and I was very pleased by what Druschetzky had to offer in his quartets. This sequel is just as interesting and entertaining. The Grundmann-Quartet made an excellent impression on the previous disc, and this is another demonstration of their art. The technically brilliant and musically engaging style of playing guarantee that there is no dull moment here. The balance between oboe and strings leaves nothing to be desired, not even in the passages where the oboe plays forte.
No lover of the oboe should miss these two discs, but even the general music lover will greatly enjoy both of them.
(*) Concerto No. 5 in g minor has been recorded by Meike Güldenhaupt and the main-barockorchester frankfurt, directed by Martin Jopp (Aeolus, 2005)
Johan van Veen (© 2024)
Relevant links:
Katarzyna Pilipiuk
Ensemble Il Vento
Grundmann-Quartett