Voices Of Bach - Works for Oboe, Choir & Orchestra

Bach has many voices, and this disc is a bold attempt by one of the world's leading oboists to sing many of them himself. Albrecht Mayer takes chorales, sinfonias and a whole Bach cantata to create a sequence of new oboe solo works. He makes a gloriously rich sound, and the alto solo "Widerstehe doch der Sünde", with its astonishing dissonances, works well. Odder are the sung chorales with solo oboe, which are too bass-light, and the four-movement concerto. The modern oboe is joined by period strings in "new" works: a telling example of our mixed approaches to this great music.

In Concerto for Oboe, several cantatas have been combined to create a new piece, elsewhere the Concerto for Oboe D'Amore features oboe lines transcribed from flute and soprano voice. There is also a series of shorter cantatas: the familiar undulating air of "Jesu bleibet meine Freude" is elevated by Mayer's oboe, while the chorale parades around his line; in "Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren", the oboe tiptoes in and around the chorale. Overall, a well-realised alliance of simpatico voicings.

We can certainly relish Mayer's exceptional technique, especially his circular breathing, and his musicianship.