After the double album of the violin and harpsichord sonatas with Kristian Bezuidenhout, a bestseller in 2018, here is the next instalment in the Bach recording adventure that began nine years ago with a set of the sonatas and partitas now regarded as a benchmark. Isabelle Faust and Bernhard Forck and his partners at the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin have explored patiently a multitude of other works by Bach: harpsichord concertos, trio sonatas for organ, instrumental movements from sacred cantatas… All are revealed here as direct or indirect relatives of the three monumental concertos BWV 1041-43.

Georg Pisendel, a minor composer of the German High Baroque, was also the concertmaster at the Dresden court and compiled a library of instrumental music containing pieces that have not been preserved anywhere else. During the Seven Years' War they were placed in the "Schrank No. II" (Cupboard No. 2) of the court church, pictured on the cover, for safekeeping, and there they remained for more than two centuries. Among them is a Handel Trio Sonata in C minor for oboe, violin, and continuo, HWV 386a, that was later published in Amsterdam with different instrumentation. It's an attractive specimen of Handel's early style.

This disc is an invitation to explore one of the great attractions of Venice in the Baroque era, the famous ospedali. Among the inmates of the Pietà was a girl named ‘Pellegrina’, for whom Vivaldi wrote many of his oboe concertos. With her Berlin colleagues, Xenia Löffler breathes new life into these concerti soli, concerti ripieni and sinfonie by the ‘Red-haired Priest’ – but also by his emulators, among them a composer of today, no less fervent in his admiration: Uri Rom.

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin launches a series of Mozart symphonies to appear on Pentatone, starting with the composer’s “Paris” and “Haffner” symphonies. On this first album, the works are coupled with his enchanting Oboe Concerto – performed by the ensemble’s first oboeist Xenia Löffler – and the bold overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Mozart’s own woodwind arrangement. Taken together, these pieces demon-strate the rich palette and expressive power of Mozart’s music in the period between 1777 and 1783, during which he finally managed to spread his wings and leave his hometown of Salzburg.

Brothers Johann Gottlieb and Carl Heinrich Graun were highly influential and popular figures in 18th Century Berlin. As musicians of the court of Frederick the Great, Carl Heinrich became an important figure at the new Berlin Court Opera, while Johann Gottlieb strongly influenced early classicism in general as a violinist and composer. The name Graun was like a seal of approval in those days for zestful music rich in ideas, displayed perfectly by this collection of concertos. Oboist Xenia Löffler, a member of the Akademie fu"r Alte Musik Berlin, has distinguished herself as a specialist for the North German repertoire of this period.

Nach dem Tod des Dresdner Konzertmeisters Johann Georg Pisendel 1755 ließ Kurfürstin Maria Josepha dessen musikalischen Nachlass aufkaufen. In der Dresdner Hofkirche, in einem großen Schrank mit der Nummer II, wurde der musikalische Schatz aus eigenen und fremden Kompositionen eingelagert und hat sich über die Jahrhunderte hinweg erhalten. Nur ein geringer Teil dieses Repertoires ist allerdings bislang gesichtet, geschweige denn eingespielt worden, so dass die Batzdorfer Hofkapelle mit einigen Weltersteinspielungen aufwarten kann.

The Berlin public of the mid-Eighteenth Century was fascinated by the ‘original genius’ of C. P. E. Bach and never tired of listening to his concertos. These works call for a talented soloist capable of mastering the multiple facets of an original and finely worked musical texture: a challenge taken up with panache (and on a period instrument) by the oboist Xenia Löffler, surrounded by her distinguished colleagues of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

Throughout his life, the oboe played a key role in the music of Georg Friedrich Handel. For no other instrument did he compose such passionate, dramatic and virtuosic music. On this disc, the Batzdorfer Hofkapelle presents a selection of Handel's most beautiful works featuring the oboe. Xenia Löffler, member of the Akademe für Alte Musik Berlin, is the soloist. Vocal parts in the arias with oboe are sung by the young coloratura soprano Marie Friederike Schöder, a shooting star of the baroque music scene.