Description

„I wrote like the devil in those days, especially for the hautbois, which was my favourite instrument“, Georg Friedrich Handel reminisced on his youthful years. Throughout his life, the oboe was to play an outstanding role for him; for no other instrument did he compose such passionate, dramatic and virtuosic soli. The Batzdorfer Hofkapelle presents here a selection of the most beautiful works of Handel with the oboe – beginning with the early Hamburg period and his sojourn in Rome and concluding with his London period. The recording includes excerpts from the operas ‚Almira‘ HWV1 and ‚Teseo‘ HWV9, from the latter the vengeance aria ‚Morirò, ma vendicata‘ with its maniacal coloratura in both the singing voice and the oboe. In the instrumental works recorded here, the spectrum extends from oboe sonatas and trio sonatas to concertos.

The oboist Xenia Löffler, member of the Akadenie für Alte Musik, Berlin, is an internationally sought-after soloist. She proves herself on this recording to be a top-notch Handel specialist who knows how to perform both the lyrical and the dramatic moments of this music with elegance and verve. The vocal parts in the arias with oboe are sung by the young coloratura soprano Marie Friederike Schöder, a shooting star in the baroque scene, whose voice convinces listeners with its extraordinary fluency and lightness in the stratosphere.“

(Prestoclassical)

To the audio samples

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Tracklist

Concerto for oboe in G minor HWV 287
Grave

Allegro
Largo e cantabile
Allegro

Geloso Tormento
Aria from Almira HWV 1

“Almira Suite”
Rondeau
Bourée
Saraband
Rigaudon
Chaconne

Vedrai s’a tuo dispetto
Aria from Almira HWV 1

Oboe sonata in C minor HWV 366
Largo

(Allegro)
Adagio
(Allegro)

Qui l’augel da pianta in pianta
Aria from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo HWV 72

Concerto doppio for oboe, bassoon, strings & b.c. HWV deest
Adagio
Allegro
Affettuoso

Tempo di Menuet

Trio sonata in B major HWV 388
Andante

Allegro
Larg(hett)o
Allegro

Overture
from Teseo HWV 9 (Dresden version)

Morirò, ma vendicata
Aria from Teseo HWV 9