Larmes: 19th Century Music With Oboe – Fabio D’Onofrio

Pearls are tears. Or, rather, tears are pearls. This Da Vinci Classics album comprises short miniatures, mainly transcribed for the oboe and piano duet from the German Lieder repertoire, and all revolving, each in its own fashion, around the theme of tears. There are some of Franz Schubert’s most beloved songs, including Gute Nacht from Winterreise and Ständchen; there are Lieder by Robert and by Clara Schumann, including Robert’s Widmung and Clara’s cycle op. 13, but also Robert’s three Romances for oboe and piano written as a Christmas gift for his wife. There are also short pieces by Kreisler – the extremely famous Liebesleid, a Viennese’s ironic gaze on Love’s Labours Lost -, by Rossini – Une Larme from Péchés de Vieillesse -, and by Mussorgsky – Une larme again. All of these short pieces are as perfect as pearls, as shiny as they are, and as beautiful in the musical necklace they form.