The Illuminators

Oboe Concertos by Kerzelli, von Schacht and Pla

This new disc of Oboe Concertos from the Court of Thurn und Taxis has some of the most obscure repertoire I've ever come across. I had never heard of any of these three composers: Franz Xaver Kerzelli (c1730-c.1794), Theodor von Schacht (1748-1823) or Joan Baptista Pla (c1720-c1773). And I only knew two things about Thurn und Taxis: firstly, the Post Service for the Holy Roman Empire was run by the Princely House of Thurn und Taxis, beginning in 1450.   

Thurn-und-Taxis Post's 1859 15 Kreuzer stamp

And secondly, Rainer Maria Rilke lived as a guest of the Princes Thurn & Taxis at Duino Castle near Trieste. It was there that he wrote his Duino Elegies, between 1912 and 1922.

At an earlier version of a Thurn und Taxis castle, in the 18th century, a huge library of music was built up. We're indebted to the work of music librarians and scholars that have allowed some of this obscure music to make its way, slowly, onto recordings like this one.

I happened to be reading John Russell's 1968 book on Henry Moore when I first listened to this album. He speaks about Moore going to Paris for the first time in the great year of Modernism, 1922. Russell talks about how, in the midst of the great works of that time, by artists like Picasso, Braque, Brancusi, Kandinsky, T. S. Eliot and James Joyce, there was an "ever-widening gap between the work of living art which came off and the work of living art which didn't."

"There was a topmost level of achievement, as there had always been: below that level there was only chaos and confusion. The minor master or acceptable epigone, so common in earlier epochs, had been swept off the board altogether since the beginnings of analytical cubism.... Attempts at resuscitation have proved again and again that there just is not, any longer, a level of acceptable minor achievement, some way below but within hailing distance of the giants. These giants have kicked down the ladder, once and for all, and it has to be set up somewhere else."

I'm not sure how well Russell's analysis of High Modernism holds up today; it seems a bit like an "End of (Art) History" argument that has been overcome by subsequent events in art historical fashions. But if we look back at music in the period of this album, we're perhaps in a perfect epoch of "acceptable minor achievement", the era of the Galant schemas that instantly slots music within an International Style that spans all of Europe during the 18th Century. With these devices in their musical toolboxes, a huge cohort of composers could stay within hailing distance of the Giants of their time, from Bach and Handel to Haydn, Gluck and Mozart. And they were guided by the Enlightenment-consensus concepts of beauty, loftiness, ease, sprezzatura, lightness, spirit and inventiveness, and that vital special sauce of the time: taste.

On the evidence of the oboe concertos in this historically informed and expertly played disc, we have another trio to add to the crowded ecosystem of second- and third-raters of 18th century music. This is pleasant music, and even, at times, more than pleasant. There's enough variety that one never tires of the oboe and strings sound; it helps that the von Schacht piece is for three oboes. Certainly this is not especially original music; the shadow of Mozart, and especially Haydn, is always there. 

When Elaine de Kooning was asked if she was in her husband Bill's shadow, she replied, "I was working in his light, & a great many others were working in the same light. I found him an illuminator, hardly a caster of shadows." Haydn and Mozart were both illuminators in this sense, and their light helps Kerzelli, Pla and von Schacht shine as well.

One of the prime marketing strategies in the crowded Classical Music marketplace is to unearth unknown masterpieces. Occasionally a great gem is found - the recent discovery of the orchestral music of Florence Price is perhaps the best recent example. But even if not every discovery is precious, there can be great pleasure to be gained from semi-precious gems, and even rhinestones can be fun if you have a couple of glasses of wine. Enjoy!