Eventail – Works by Ravel, Debussy, Milhaud, Saint-Saëns, Casadesus, Koechlin, Jolivet and Messiaen
Heinz Holliger (oboe), Anton Kernjak (piano)
ECM ECM 2694 65:08 mins
Heinz Holliger continues to amaze. Now in his eighties, he still finds the time and the stamina alongside his composing and conducting to extend his reputation as the foremost oboist of the past 60 years. This beautifully crafted album of French works, mostly Vocalises-Etudes and other wordless songs, is bolstered by a triptych of larger works.
Beguiling lyricism is to the fore, whether in Ravel’s Pièce en forme de Habanera and Kaddisch or Milhaud’s insouciant Vocalise. The improvisatory arabesques of Saint-Saëns’s Le rossignol formed the basis of the central movement of the composer’s sonata, also heard here with, as elsewhere, the finely judged pianism of Anton Kernjak. Prompted by Koechlin’s haunting Le repos de Tityre for solo oboe d’amore, Holliger uses the same instrument for Debussy’s Syrinx and Petite Pièce, each sounding at least as effective as the flute and clarinet originals.
Similar explorations of French oboe repertoire exist, but none with Holliger’s personal connections. Jolivet’s Controversia, an extraordinary exploration of harp and oboe sonority, was written for Holliger and his harpist wife, Ursula, the latter’s part played with utter assurance here by the impressive Alice Belugou. One moment hauntingly veiled, the next chittering in the heights, sweetly singing before morphing into rasping pleas with no loss of line, Holliger’s formidable technique and musicality are on full display. He closes with the sonata by Robert Casadesus, a genuine rarity written for Holliger’s own teacher, Emile Cassagnaud. Capturing its alternately dreamy and pugnaciously playful nature, Holliger is, as ever, an ideal advocate. Christopher Dingle