Xenia Loffler – Concerto, Venice: The Golden Age (2014) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

This disc is an invitation to explore one of the great attractions of Venice in the Baroque era, the famous ‘ospedali’. These were establishments that took care of and educated children and adolescents. In the early 18 century almost all the leading Venetian musicians were linked with the musical activities of one of the ospedali. The best-known among them was Antonio Vivaldi: just 25 when he was hired as violin teacher at the Ospedale della Pietà. Among the residents of the Pietà was a girl named Pellegrina, for whom Vivaldi wrote many of his oboe concertos. Accompanied by her colleagues of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, oboist Xenia Löffler not only breathes new life into a selection of concertos by the Red Priest’, but also several by his emulators, among them a contemporary composer, Uri Rom. The programme begins with a concerto composed by Rom [b. 1969] in 2013 to a commission from the Akademie für Alte Musik and dedicated to Xenia Löffler, one of today s leading oboists. ‘Concerto L Olimpiade’ is a sort of pasticcio based on works by Antonio Vivaldi and Carlo Tessarini. The first movement is based on the aria Siam navi all onde algenti from the opera’ L Olimpiade’. The second movement reflects the reception of the Italian style by J. S. Bach. The finale takes as its models a movement from a violin concerto by Vivaldi (RV 172) and a movement from a violin concerto by Tessarini. The solo part and the formal layout of the movement are new. Since 2001 Xenia Löffler has been a member and principal oboist of the Akademie für Alte Musik, appearing regularly on international concert platforms as a soloist with that orchestra and with Collegium 1704 (Prague), the Batzdorfer Hofkapelle and the orchestra of the Halle Handel Festival.

It is always a pleasure to hear the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin … they play superbly as a unit as always, energetically detailed … Some nimble violin-playing from Georg Kallweit notwithstanding, however, the third theme of the disc is undoubtedly the superb oboe playing of Xenia Loffler, as smooth and swellingly expressive in slow movements as it is ripplingly agile in quicker ones. It is masterly playing and this disc is her triumph. -Lindsay Kemp Gramophone

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE AWARDS 2015 CONCERTO NOMINEE ‘An invigorating programme of Venetian musical highways and byways that blows any hint of Baroque reserve out of the water. Oboist Xenia Loffler and the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin in overdrive bring the music of Vivaldi and his lesser-known contemporaries sparklingly to life.’ -BBC Music Magazine, February 2015

Tracklist:
Uri Rom (1969-):
Concerto ‘L’Olimpiade’ in C Major for oboe, strings and basso continuo, Quasi-Pasticcio (after Antonio Vivaldi and Carlo Tessarini)
1 I. Allegro ma poco 05:01
2 II. Adagio 05:28
3 III. Allegro 04:18
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto in E Minor for strings and basso continuo, RV 134
4 I. Allegro 02:26
5 II. Andante 01:49
6 III. Allegro 01:27
Alessandro Marcello (1684-1750)
Concerto in D Minor for oboe, strings and basso continuo
7 I. Andante e spiccato 03:38
8 II. Adagio 03:10
9 III. Presto 02:40
Giovanni Porta (c.1675-1755)
Sinfonia in D Major for strings, 2 oboes, bassoon and basso continuo
10 I. Allegro – Andante – Adagio 03:22
11 II. Allegro 01:06
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto in B flat major for violin, oboe, strings and basso continuo, after RV 364, RV Anh.18
12 I. Allegro 02:48
13 II. Grave 01:27
14 III. Air 02:13
15 IV. Allegro 01:40
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto ‘per Sua Altezza Reale di Sassonia’ in G Minor for violino solo, oboe solo, oboe secondo, due flauti, archi e
16 I. Allegro 03:58
17 II. Larghetto 02:17
18 III. Allegro 03:37
Carlo Tessarini (c.1690-1766)
Overture in D Major from ‘La Stravaganza’ for strings and basso continuo, Op. 4
19 I. Allegro assai 01:47
20 II. Largo sempre piano 02:27
21 III. Presto 01:48
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto in C Major for oboe, strings and basso continuo, RV 450
22 I. Allegro molto 04:00
23 II. Larghetto 03:12
24 III. Allegro 02:49