What a welcome change it is these days to find Mozart coupled with someone else! This is an attractive little selection of classical oboe concertos, in which, if the Mozart perhaps overshadows its companions fat sheer warmth and humanity the C. P. E. Bach and Lebrun concertos can nevertheless match it for musical interest and personality. The Lebrun, especially, is a curiosity; its composer, the greatest oboist of his day, hailed from Mannheim, and his virtuoso concerto is a rather schizophrenic mix of some of the stormier orchestral traits of his home-town school of composition, and lyricism of operatic simplicity. It's not the most sophisticated piece ever written (the long first movement loses its way rather), but it has considerable charm and great spirit, and is certainly worth a listen. The Bach is a fine, typically well-wrought work, full of nervous energy in the first movement, deeply expressive in the second, and—to stop things getting too serious—carefree and galant in the third.
Paul Goodwin is one of the most accomplished and musicianly players of eighteenth-century oboes around, and one who achieves his effects without attempting to conceal the bold, fruity character of his instruments (he uses two on this recording, that for the Bach having a fatter tone). His articulation and phrasing are detailed and well-judged, while fine breath control allows for a high level of sustained expressiveness, not just in the slow movements but also in moments such as the opening messa di voce of the Mozart's first movement. At other times he is suitably bold and confident, and he is excellently backed up throughout by Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert, whose polished playing strikes a good balance between brightness and blended tone. A thoroughly enjoyable disc.'