Search - Bruno Maderna, Michael Stern, Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra :: Bruno Maderna: Oboe Concertos

Stunning & mysterious works for oboe

R. Hutchinson | a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds | 06/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This new disc from Col Legno has two great strengths -- it presents all three of Maderna's stunning oboe concertos together on one disc, and it does so with superb performances by Fabian Menzel. The oboe was Maderna's favorite instrument, and it is one of mine as well (I played it briefly, very badly, long ago...). He wrote many works for oboe, most for his friend, oboist Lothar Faber. These recordings have been in the vaults of the Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra for over a decade, since 1994 and 1996 -- No.s 1 and 3 are live recordings -- and the engineering and mastering is impeccable. (Unfortunatately at the moment it is not possible to compare this disc to the 1994 Philips recording of the Maderna oboe concertos by the great Heinz Holliger with the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, as it has been deleted. Perhaps ArkivMusic will bring it back soon.)



While these are technically concertos with orchestra, they are very spacious, sparse and mysterious pieces that make no attempt to follow the classical model for a concerto. The full orchestra is rarely heard. The solo line, with Menzel's beautiful tone, is constantly in the foreground, above a subtle tapestry of sounds, including prominent percussion. The first concerto, from 1962, is the most clearly serial in construction, quite Webernesque in its pointillism and clarity. The second concerto, from 1967, opens up somewhat, and features more dramatic percussion. The third concerto, from 1973, Maderna's last composition before his untimely death, moves decisively beyond serialism into more sustained, lyrical lines and some sparing use of the entire orchestra.



This is beautiful modern music for oboe, and deserves to be heard along with the excellent oboe concertos of Elliott Carter and Morton Feldman. Maderna was centrally located in the Darmstadt modernist movement, but unlike some of his peers, his music was always expressive and graceful."