Album
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Albinoni: 12 Concerti, Op.7I Musici String Ensemble
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The "for, with, and without oboe" heading on the booklet essay for this two-disc collection of Albinoni concertos points to the reason the set is not more popular than it is, although the oboe writing offers many small pleasures. Unlike a Vivaldi collection, which offers a sense of a potentially inexhaustible ability to solve a set of specific formal problems, these works are a bit diffuse in the ground they cover. Some sound like Handel, some like Vivaldi; some are broad in shape, while others circle quickly through a group of related keys. There's nothing much to object to in this 1992 recording, but plenty of worthier Baroque programs have come along since then. The most attractive pieces are those for a single oboe with strings and continuo (the first concerto on the second disc is a good place to start), where veteran oboist Heinz Holliger produces a really lyrical sound without breaking Baroque boundaries. Second oboist Maurice Bourgue makes an effective foil for Holliger in the concertos in which he appears. But I Musici on its own is less successful, with an overbright quality that gives the listener a kind of aural glare that blurs the music's outlines. There's certainly a market for this disc among libraries, which will want to have Albinoni's Op. 7 publication as a discrete set (two other works from other sets are also included); there are not many available. And the set is never less than pleasant. Yet the listener who has learned that Baroque music can rock your world may not feel compelled by the confluences of music and performance here. © James Manheim, All Music Guide
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© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.
