J.S. Bach: Oboe Concertos

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Artists: Andrius Puskunigis (oboe and oboe d’amore), Simona Venslovaite (violin), St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra. Donatas Katkus (conductor)

Tracklist below.

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We can’t be sure that Bach wrote any concertos specifically for the oboe aside from the C minor concerto BWV1060 – in which it’s partnered by the violin in an exercise of pathos out of all proportion to the modest dimensions of the work itself. The other concertos here come down to us as harpsichord concertos, in which guise they do not sit entirely happily, and it seems more than likely that Bach, as both unhappy Kapellmeister of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig and far more content in his role supplying music, musicians and concerts to Zimmermann’s coffee house in the city, would have been glad to take advantage of the soloistic potential of a resident oboist to craft these Italianate concertos that exploit both the instrument’s origins in pastoral idiom (notably BWV1053, in the ‘pastoral’ key of F major, and its gently swaying siciliano middle movement in 6/8), as well as more urbane and learned counterpoint of which he was undisputed master among his peers.

Andrius Puskingis is a Lithuanian oboist, now resident in France, who returns to his home city to play and direct these spirited and intimate performances. At present he is the principal oboist with the Heidelburg Symphony Orchestra, who have made an acclaimed series of Haydn symphony recordings with their music director Thomas Fey, and something of Fey’s restless spirit of adventure can also be traced in these fine new recordings.

00:00:00 Oboe Concerto in F Major, BWV 1053: I. Allegro
00:07:15 Oboe Concerto in F Major, BWV 1053: II. Siciliano
00:12:09 Oboe Concerto in F Major, BWV 1053: III. Allegro
00:18:02 Concerto for Oboe d’amore in A Major, BWV 1055: I. Allegro
00:22:15 Concerto for Oboe d’amore in A Major, BWV 1055: II. Larghetto
00:26:18 Concerto for Oboe d’amore in A Major, BWV 1055: III. Allegro ma non tanto
00:30:52 Oboe Concerto in G Minor, BWV 1056: I. Allegro
00:34:07 Oboe Concerto in G Minor, BWV 1056: II. Largo
00:36:29Oboe Concerto in G Minor, BWV 1056: III. Presto
00:39:55 Concerto for Oboe d’amore in G Major: I. Bass aria (Arr. BWV 100)
00:43:19 Concerto for Oboe d’amore in G Major: II. Alto aria (Arr. BWV 170)
00:49:35 Concerto for Oboe d’amore in G Major: III. Bass aria (Arr. BWV 30)
00:53:52 Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C Minor, BWV 1060: I. Allegro
00:58:16 Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C Minor, BWV 1060: II. Adagio
01:02:19 Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C Minor, BWV 1060: III. Allegro