Zelenka’s sonatas for two oboes, bassoon and continuo extended the boundaries of baroque oboe writing in much the same way as Bach’s flute sonatas did for the flute. Little or nothing as technically advanced had been seen before, and at times Zelenka’s writing, often idiosyncratic, is such that we might mischievously wonder whether it was a love of the oboe or a vendetta against certain oboists that prompted him to write such demanding music. Heinz Holliger, Maurice Bourgue and Klaus Thunemann are no strangers to these pieces, having recorded them for Archiv in 1972. As before, they play modern instruments, but with a virtuosity and intuitive musicianship that compensate for the warmer, woodier sound of their baroque counterparts.
Zelenka completed his set of six sonatas in about 1716. Five of them are laid out in the four-movement scheme of a sonata da chiesa while the remaining one (No. 5) adopts the more up-to-date three-movement pattern. Alone among the six, the Third Sonata is written for violin and oboe rather than a pair of oboes. As I have already implied, the playing on these two discs is of a high order, though I find the continuo a shade overbearing at times. But Holliger and Bourgue effortlessly seek out every nuance of this music that is so brimming with character. Quite simply, there is not a dull bar to be found throughout these warmly expressive pieces. Both players are able to sustain effortlessly the extended melodic contours which are such a feature of these sonatas, while at the same time never losing sight of the music’s poetry. In Sonata No. 3 Thomas Zehetmair proves himself a sympathetic partner to Holliger, in playing that is lively and clearly defined.
There are several alternative versions of these captivating sonatas on the Gramophone Database, including Holliger’s and Bourgue’s earlier recording. My choice between their versions would incline towards the new issue, which is more rhythmically flexible and more sensitive in its use of dynamics and ornamentation. But readers who don’t have a taste for modern oboes might choose between Paul Dombrecht and Marcel Ponseele and Ensemble Zefiro. The instrumental sonorities of the last-mentioned make it my own favourite, by a whisker, but all performances under discussion illuminate in their own various ways this imaginative, spirited and often affecting music. The newcomer is very well recorded. Recommended.'