Xenia

In 1906, Komitas gave a concert and lecture in Paris. Debussy came on stage after the concert and knelt before the Armenian composer (who was also a priest, a singer and a pioneer of ethnomusicology), exclaiming: ‘I bow before your genius, Reverend Father.’

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin launches a series of Mozart symphonies to appear on Pentatone, starting with the composer’s “Paris” and “Haffner” symphonies. On this first album, the works are coupled with his enchanting Oboe Concerto – performed by the ensemble’s first oboeist Xenia Löffler – and the bold overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Mozart’s own woodwind arrangement. Taken together, these pieces demon-strate the rich palette and expressive power of Mozart’s music in the period between 1777 and 1783, during which he finally managed to spread his wings and leave his hometown of Salzburg.

The Ensemble Inspirimus founded by Xenia Jankovic, plays in many different formations. On this album it is a group of eight successful cellists, all of whom are currently students of Prof. Jankovic at the Detmold University of Music in Germany. During the pandemic in 2021, the extreme situation of the lockdown welded this wonderful group of enthusiastic young musicians into the strong ensemble that they are, full of inspiration and spirit.

While not many listeners in the present day may remember the name Julius Klengel, his name was virtually synonymous with the cello less than 100 years ago. The majority of Klengel's career centered around either performing – as principal cellist of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, as a chamber musician, or as a soloist – or pedagogy. In fact, he was one of the most sought-after teachers of his time, and his numerous students include the likes of Feuermann and Piatigorsky. Klengel also composed a great deal of music for the cello, especially pedagogical works. His performance works, including the three concertos heard on this disc, are infrequently played. Compositionally, they are generally enjoyable works but not terribly original or moving.

Throughout his life, the oboe played a key role in the music of Georg Friedrich Handel. For no other instrument did he compose such passionate, dramatic and virtuosic music. On this disc, the Batzdorfer Hofkapelle presents a selection of Handel's most beautiful works featuring the oboe. Xenia Löffler, member of the Akademe für Alte Musik Berlin, is the soloist. Vocal parts in the arias with oboe are sung by the young coloratura soprano Marie Friederike Schöder, a shooting star of the baroque music scene.

"Love" is a very powerful force. It is fascinating to realize that by cultivating feelings of love within ourselves and by acting out of love we can bring about many positive changes in our society, our planet and our lives. Can we also cultivate our feelings of love by listening to music? Yes, the music can truly open our hearts and horizons, intensify and clarify our feelings by touching us directly and deeply with its mysterious sounds. This album is dedicated to love and represents different aspects of love, human love, suffering, joy, humor and play…

Brothers Johann Gottlieb and Carl Heinrich Graun were highly influential and popular figures in 18th Century Berlin. As musicians of the court of Frederick the Great, Carl Heinrich became an important figure at the new Berlin Court Opera, while Johann Gottlieb strongly influenced early classicism in general as a violinist and composer. The name Graun was like a seal of approval in those days for zestful music rich in ideas, displayed perfectly by this collection of concertos. Oboist Xenia Löffler, a member of the Akademie fu"r Alte Musik Berlin, has distinguished herself as a specialist for the North German repertoire of this period.

The Berlin public of the mid-Eighteenth Century was fascinated by the ‘original genius’ of C. P. E. Bach and never tired of listening to his concertos. These works call for a talented soloist capable of mastering the multiple facets of an original and finely worked musical texture: a challenge taken up with panache (and on a period instrument) by the oboist Xenia Löffler, surrounded by her distinguished colleagues of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

This disc is an invitation to explore one of the great attractions of Venice in the Baroque era, the famous ospedali. Among the inmates of the Pietà was a girl named ‘Pellegrina’, for whom Vivaldi wrote many of his oboe concertos. With her Berlin colleagues, Xenia Löffler breathes new life into these concerti soli, concerti ripieni and sinfonie by the ‘Red-haired Priest’ – but also by his emulators, among them a composer of today, no less fervent in his admiration: Uri Rom.

Georg Pisendel, a minor composer of the German High Baroque, was also the concertmaster at the Dresden court and compiled a library of instrumental music containing pieces that have not been preserved anywhere else. During the Seven Years' War they were placed in the "Schrank No. II" (Cupboard No. 2) of the court church, pictured on the cover, for safekeeping, and there they remained for more than two centuries. Among them is a Handel Trio Sonata in C minor for oboe, violin, and continuo, HWV 386a, that was later published in Amsterdam with different instrumentation. It's an attractive specimen of Handel's early style.