CD REVIEW – ALBRECHT MAYER
MOZART
WORKS FOR OBOE AND ORCHESTRA
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Vital Julian Frey
DGG 483 8232 (82’00”)

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From the master of melody comes this release featuring the long-serving principal/joint principal oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic. Herr Mayer not only plays the oboe, oboe d'amore and cor anglais, he also is the orchestra's Music Director and writes the very personal booklet notes.

Top Swiss harpsichordist Vital Julian Frey is the second soloist on the longest work: Concerto for Oboe, Harpsichord and Orchestra – an adaptation by Matthias Spindler and Mayer of that for Flute and Harp – as well as playing on other tracks the fortepiano and positive organ: a small, usually one-manual, pipe organ that is built to be more or less mobile. Daniel Sepec is the concertmaster of the admirable German 28-piece chamber orchestra.

The opening piece: Allegro for Oboe and Orchestra was unfinished and completed by Gothard Odermatt, a modern-day Swiss oboist, conductor and composer. The remaining works are the well-loved Ave verum corpus, cheery Rondo in C Major, two arias originally written for the soprano voice that Mayer has long admired and Exultate, jubilate, which he considers to be one of the most inspired works Mozart ever composed.

If the merit of most music lies in its tunefulness, then this disc deserves five stars… and the one hour and 22-minute length is not a misprint!

© Peter Burt 2021