Stacy - Bach Telemann Oboe damore Concertos (14 tracks) +Album Reviews

Beautiful Baroque Music

John Galm | Boulder, Colorado United States | 07/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are seeking a refreshing, innovative, lyrical and above all a high art of musicality, this CD of Thomas Stacy playing the Oboe d'amore with the Toronto Chamber Orchestra featuring concerti by Bach, Mallon and Teleman is for you.

So often an "authentic performance" of Baroque music is "correct" but musically lacking. Not so these performances. The tempi are just right for allowing the ornaments to flourish and the lyricism to soar.

This music requires a direct sense of focus toward the tonality with the embellishments decorating like laced cuffs. The trills, mordents etc. are always superbly placed by Mr. Stacy but never interuupting the musical direction.

Ah, the lyricism of the second movements is beyond verbal description. As the oboe d'amore shows its compelling quality of beautiful love in the performance of Mr. Stacy.

A joyful new life to this musical genre. Bravo!

John K. Galm

Professor Emeritus, College of Music University of Colorado"

Lovely performances on the "oboe of love"

Chris von Rosenvinge | 07/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thomas Stacy, veteran English hornist of the New York Philharmonic, is the world's preeminent performer on the instrument. In this delightful recording of four concerti for oboe d'amore (Italian for "oboe of love"), pitched between English horn and oboe, Stacy demonstrates his technical mastery and singing tone on this less familiar member of the double-reed family.

Stacy performs two concerti by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), himself a player on the oboe d'amore. In between, Stacy performs two concerti reconstructed from harpsichord concerti, BWV 1053 and BWV 1055, by J.S. Bach (1685-1750). Since the harpsichord concerti are thought to be Bach's transcriptions from his earlier concerti for oboe or oboe d'amore, now lost, they are appropriately reconstructed for oboe d'amore. Stacy performs all four concerti with remarkable dexterity, perfectly articulated ornaments, and, in the slow movements, gossamer pianissimi and great sensitivity.

The Toronto Chamber Orchestra, under Kevin Mallon, performs on modern instruments, but with notable lack of vibrato, in keeping with Baroque performance style. Stacy adds judicious amounts of vibrato, particularly in the slow movements; the Bach slow movements are especially worth hearing."

Funereal Baroque

Ross Kennett | Narooma, NSW Australia | 06/25/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Bach, Telemann: Oboe d'amore Concertos

This is a most disappointing recording. I am familiar with both the Telemann and the Bach concertos, they are fine works, and with Mallon and his Toronto based ensembles, they have recorded quite a number of very good CDs.

So what's wrong here? Simply the funereal tempos used, especially with the Bach. BWV 1055 is a massive 26% slower than the average of the 3 other versions I have, and BWV 1053 is 17% slower. The Telemann is not so bad, 7% slower.

I agree that it is the soloist's and conductor's task to interpret the work, but to me the funereal pace destroys the joyfull nature of these concertos, in particular the Bach. There are plenty of other versions of the Bach, my favourite is that by Cafe Zimmerman on Alpha, and the earlier Naxos recording by Hommel with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra is readily available at bargain price.

"

Excellent and authentic performance

Russell C. Campbell | Seattle, WA USA | 06/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have a handful of Oboe d'Amore recordings and I must admit, this one is my favorites. Of course I'm revealing my prejudice that Thomas Stacy is most likely the best Oboe / Oboe d'Amore / English Horn player I've ever heard. I have most of his recordings and a few of his published sheet music transcriptions for English Horn.

Have you listened to several Oboe d'Amore recordings and couldn't quite put your finger on some sort of problem? What you may be hearing is the intonation problems of some of the older Oboe d'Amores (especially from that time period) that make things sound a little bit "off." I can certainly appreciate "authentic" instruments from Bach's period, but I believe that works better for strings than woodwinds when it comes to critical intonation. Hence the modern Oboe d'Amore.

One of the things I really like about Stacy's style on this disc is he doesn't take things too fast. Many of you may realize that pitch standards have risen since Bach's time. In other words, the standard tuning pitch of "A" was not 440 Hz at the time, but was pitched slightly lower. Standardization is mostly due to the invention of the tuning fork and enhanced worldwide communication, not to mention today's atomic standards. What I discovered in music theory class was that not only have pitches risen since Bach's time, but tempos have also increased and become faster.

I've been told that the Oboe d'Amore is not just for Bach and Telemann, but is making a comeback. I'm really glad to hear that since I'm an oboist and I recently bought one!! There are also some contemporary compositions out there for Oboe d'Amore. So if you like the mellow sound of this instrument that plays one-third of an octave lower than the standard Oboe, my recommendation is to start out with this recording for your collection and build on it."

Beautiful

R. W. Spellman | Bloomfield, CT United States | 09/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One terrific recording. It's one of the best of hundreds of CDs I currently have. Also, I'm always indebted to Amazon for the way this and other items come packaged plus the swift delivery. Thank-you, Amazon!

"

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