Paul Dombrecht - Franzosische Oboenmusik - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

This CD is unique. The oboe was relegated in the romantic age as the clarinet gained favor. So there are few chamber works for oboe from this period, and those that exist are rarely recorded. But to have several of these pieces on one disc and played so well on period instruments makes this a real treat. The instruments are an 1850 Triebert oboe and Erard pianoforte. These are not so different technically from their modern counterparts, but in these musicians' hands they deliver a warm, distinctive sound that would be hard to emulate with modern instruments. The Schumann Romances are sad and haunting, the Kaliwoda alternates between the serious and the dance-like, and the Pixis sonata is a more substantial piece with a rather somber slow movement.

Until the end of the Ancien Régime, one of the main activities of composers - and one of their chief means of subsistence - was that of maître de chapelle or Kapellmeister, directing the music performed at religious services attended by the princely families who employed them. Although this mostly concerned ordinary occasions, sometimes even on a daily basis, such composers also had to provide music tailored for specific and sometimes unexpected events, such as a military victory that had to be celebrated by a Te Deum or, more sadly, the death of a sovereign. For this five-album set, Alpha Classics has assembled eight requiems, from Antoine de Févin's Mass of the Dead for Anne of Brittany to Luigi Cherubini's Mass for the return to France of the remains of Louis XVI.

Paul Burkhard - Music By Paul Burkhard & Schaeuble [COMPACT DISCS] date 06/08/2010