Joan Baptista & Josep Pla Trios For Oboes

The Vivaldi recordings by Adrian Chandler and his British period instrument ensemble La Serenissima, named after the nickname of the Venetian Republic and specializing in its music, are breaking new ground. Give this one a try if you haven't heard the group before: it's wonderful. Chandler focuses on double concertos, which Vivaldi produced in profusion for his players as the Osepale della Pietà, but which have been largely neglected on recordings.

During the 1990s, Collegium Musicum 90 and Simon Standage released several volumes of Albinoni concertos, which proved popular with critics and public alike. The concertos were released as discs of single oboe concertos, double oboe concertos, and string concertos. In this re-issue on the Chaconne label, the concertos are presented in opus number order, showing the contrasting colours and tonalities of the concertos as they originally appeared.

Bewitching chamber music from a virtuoso flautist and French contemporary of Mozart. This set of divertimento-like sonatas belongs to Devienne’s period in service to Cardinal de Rohan during the first half of the 1780s, though the manuscript is dedicated to another French nobleman. It is the work of a highly accomplished musician in his early 20s: already the master of his art as a performer on the flute, providing for himself and his patrons music to delight the imagination without straining for depth and profundity. Unlike Devienne’s concertos, which naturally featured virtuoso solo parts, his chamber music tended to avoid excessive technical difficulties because it was largely intended for an audience of aristocratic amateur musicians.

When Trios For 4 was first released the Palladian Ensemble was riding high following a sell-out ‘Rising Stars’ concert series in Europe with performances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Konzerthaus Wien, Frankfurt Alte Oper, and London's South Bank Centre. Together Rachel Podger, Pamela Thorby, Susanne Heinrich and William Carter formed a quartet of the highest calibre; confirmed by the solo successes each went on to enjoy in their respective careers. In a cleverly chosen programme the Palladian Ensemble perform works by Handel, Telemann, Leclair and Quantz which perfectly demonstrate the diversity of styles typical of the eighteenth century.