Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tomaso Albinoni

Wikipedia (1671-1750) [Italian. Baroque period.]
If you're just gonna listen to one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s53N-dSHJTA


There's one piece by Albinoni that lots of people will recognize -- the Adagio in G minor, which only existed as a sonata fragment until it was discovered by Remo Giazotto. He originally claimed to have arranged the work from the Albinoni sketch, but later changed his story and said that it was an original work by him. Still, credit for the piece generally falls to Albinoni, with Giazotto living as an asterisk in the history books...

Adagio in G minor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuh3WyfVL2M (This is Herbert von Karajan's slow but lovely take on this piece, clocking in at almost 12 minutes. See also this version, which is under 9 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s53N-dSHJTA)

Albinoni spent most of his time writing operas, but he is now mostly remembered for his instrumental music. He was also the first Italian composer to write concertos for oboe, which were part of his 12 Concerti a cinque.

Oboe Concerto 2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjgndGuy77o
Oboe Concerto 8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6PojkUPozg

Baroque chamber music!

String Quintet op 2 no 6http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS600cRhEg4

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