Classical Works:
Concerto à cinque, for oboe, 2 violins, viola, cello & continuo No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 7/3, (T. 7/3)
- Date: 1715
- Main Performer: Tomaso Albinoni
- Genre: Concerto
- Period: Baroque (1600-1749)
Review
Albinoni, like many other Italian Baroque composers, had a special affection for the oboe. The appellation "concerto" at that time simply indicated ensemble music that was played together "in concert," with a solo instrumentalist featured between the rondo-like theme restatements executed by the full ensemble.This work opens with a lively theme built around staccato repetitions of a single pitch, introduced by the strings and continuo and then taken up by the solo oboe. Several variations and virtuoso pattern sequences (arpeggios, rotations, scalar runs, etc.) are given to the oboe, who seems to lead the ensemble into constantly new territories. Albinoni possessed a splendid rhythmic sensibility, exploited here through offbeat octave skips, anticipatory accents, and sequences of punctuated non-harmonic tones.
The slow middle movement opens with a gentle minor-key string melody, from which gradually emerges a very long sustained oboe tone held above steadily pulsing string chords. The tone crescendoes like a ray of light brightening the moody atmosphere. The tone then suddenly releases itself when it has formed a maximally dissonant relation to the surrounding harmony; it is at the point where the tension has no other choice but to launch into a melodic cry. This restrained but highly emotional melody consists of simple turns, of ascending-retreating-and-ascending-again figures, of expressive slow lines ending in gradually accelerating trills and their resolutions.
The third movement is in a quick tempo, following the pattern established by Vivaldi. However, in place of the more declamatory, insistent nature of the first movement, the mood here is set by a gentle and joyous lilt in triple meter. The elaborate melody is built on light scalewise steps which turn into furious onrushing scales and trills. Again, the oboe is tacet until the strings have introduced the new material. The oboe enters repeating the theme and interweaves comments on the string lines in a subtle close counterpoint. A very fetching timbre is achieved by the strings bowing in fast pulses on the same note while the oboe plays skipping arpeggio patterns. The violins then break away into running scales both ascending and descending while the oboe moves in the opposite direction, making a beautiful waterfall-like cascade of sound. The initial theme is repeated with the violins and oboe interlacing their respective commentaries, and the piece draws to a close after an extended cadence. ~ All Music Guide
