Oboe and guitar—is there even a repertoire? When Almute Zwiener and Kathrin Redlich were asked to play a concert in this unusual combination in 2003, they started digging. They soon located the few existing original compositions by Napoleon Coste, Karl Pilss, and Tom Eastwood. But their research also showed that up to and including the nineteenth century it was common pract ice to adapt music for such combinations. In addition, it was an obvious choice to play on period instruments, since both musicians had already mastered the entire range of instruments from the baroque period to the twenty-first century. From these beginnings, a remarkable and unique ensemble was founded that convinced the jury at the eleventh ‘Alte Musik Treff des Berliner Musikinstrumentenmuseums’ (Early Music meeting of the Berlin Museum of Musical Instruments) in 2006 and won a prize. Duo Varino creates programs from the baroque and classical periods in the spirit of the times, but also plays original compositions from more recent centuries and from the present. This is the ensemble’s first CD.
