Zürcher Kammerorchester / David Philip Hefti SHADES OF LOVE

 

SHADES OF LOVE

Albrecht Mayer MOZART Works for Oboe and Orchestra

 

WORKS FOR OBOE AND ORCHESTRA

 

Albrecht Mayer / Bamberger Symphoniker / Jakub Hrůša LONGING FOR PARADISE

Albrecht Mayer’s first encounter with music was as a member of the Cathedral Choir in his home city of Bamberg, an early experience which is perhaps partly responsible for the warm, singing quality of his oboe-playing. His artistry invites superlatives: people talk of a “divine spark” and how he has elevated the “miraculous oboe” to become an “instrument of seduction”.

"Longing for Paradise" Inspired by the many composers who lived and wrote during wartime, Albrecht Mayer releases Longing for Paradise, featuring Richard Strauss' notoriously difficult Oboe Concerto, written by the octogenarian composer at the end of WWII, with lesser-known masterworks by Elgar and Goosens and a new arrangement for oboe and orchestra of Ravel's yearning Le Tombeau de Couperin.

Albrecht Mayer / I Musici di Roma TESORI D'ITALIA

This release by Albrecht Mayer lives up to its title: the program items are truly Italian treasures, none common except for the Vivaldi Concerto for oboe, strings, and continuo, RV 450, at the beginning. There are a couple of world recorded premieres, from library manuscripts, making this a more or less essential purchase for libraries and good late Baroque collections. Those two pieces, an oboe concerto by the elusive Domenico Elmi, and the Concerto in C major for oboe, strings, and continuo, Op. 8, No. 4, of Giuseppe Sammartini, are both attractive, but among the other works, hardly better known, are some real gems (or tesori). Sample the Concerto in G minor for oboe, strings, and continuo, Op. 8, No. 5 with its unusual movement structure: two slow outer movements and a tripartite central movement that itself has a central slow section, all logically coordinated with the solo oboe part. Mayer has a clean, energetic style, but the backing by the venerable Musici di Roma lacks a bit of the contemporary crispness, and the sound from the Sala Accademica del Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra is vague. Nevertheless, a fine release of excellent music you almost certainly have never heard. (James Manheim)

Albrecht Mayer VOCALISE

Vocalise is a compilation of favourite pieces from Albrecht Mayer's recent releases in which the oboe more than lives up to its reputation as a wind instrument remarkable for its singing tone

The artist personally selected this collection ranging widely from Baroque arias of great virtuosity to the charm of the French chanson

Even as a boy soprano with the Bamberg Cathedral Choir, Albrecht Mayer was already fascinated by the human voice, and although he later decided against pursuing a career as a singer and chose instead to become an oboist, he is unquestionably a magician who as soon as he breathes life into his instrument casts his spell on his listeners’ hearts and minds with the beauty of his playing, transforming the oboe into an irresistible Vox Humana.