Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado - Mozart: Oboe Concerto; Haydn: Sinfonia concertante (2014) [HDTracks]

One definition of Allegro aperto, the direction in the first movement of the Oboe Concerto, reads ‘an allegro with broad, clear phrasing’; and broad, clear phrasing is what you get from Claudio Abbado. But he isn’t as successful in equilibrating liveliness with breath and his stately tempo doesn’t always appear to sit well with Lucas Macías Navarro. If he had preferred a degree of élan he gets it in the last movement, though Abbado doesn’t clarify the orchestral texture as well as he might. But a meeting of minds in the Adagio non troppo makes many amends.
Five minds meet at every turn in the Sinfonia concertante, supremely crafted at every turn by Haydn (notice the soloists’ entry in the first movement, not with the first subject but with the second), Abbado persuading his musicians to share his patently clear love of the work. Gentle warmth abounds in the first movement, brass mostly stay in the background, timpani rumble. But instrumental balance, concertino vs ripieno, is as it ought to be, the Andante lyrically, even yearningly shaped. If you were expecting a finale similar in cast to the first movement, Abbado surprises with terser attack, prominent brass and better-present timpani. He contours this marvellous work as he feels it. It’s a valid view, as is that of Frans Brüggen, whose period-instrument performance has a sharper profile. Then there’s Thomas Fey, concentrated, snappy and inviting invective; but an interpretation of great distinction all the same. --Nalen Anthoni, Gramophone.