Albrecht Mayer / Bamberger Symphoniker / Jakub Hrůša LONGING FOR PARADISE

Albrecht Mayer’s first encounter with music was as a member of the Cathedral Choir in his home city of Bamberg, an early experience which is perhaps partly responsible for the warm, singing quality of his oboe-playing. His artistry invites superlatives: people talk of a “divine spark” and how he has elevated the “miraculous oboe” to become an “instrument of seduction”.

"Longing for Paradise" Inspired by the many composers who lived and wrote during wartime, Albrecht Mayer releases Longing for Paradise, featuring Richard Strauss' notoriously difficult Oboe Concerto, written by the octogenarian composer at the end of WWII, with lesser-known masterworks by Elgar and Goosens and a new arrangement for oboe and orchestra of Ravel's yearning Le Tombeau de Couperin.