If Mozart and Haydn have long been established as the dominant Viennese figures of the 1780s, it is always fascinating to look around and see what else was going on at the same time. Albrecht Mayer has lighted on four concertos – three for oboe, one for cor anglais – by composers whose music in its day would have been conspicuous in the concert landscape. When an artist of Mayer’s stature espouses Franz Hoffmeister, Ludwig Lebrun, Joseph Fiala and Jan Antonín KoΩeluch, you can be confident that there is a compelling musical reason for doing so and that Mayer will show you what it is. And so it proves on this enchanting disc, with the Kammerakademie Potsdam lending poised, pointed support in their combination of clarity, discretion and vitality.

Scrupulously Classical, all four concertos nevertheless harbour traits that give them an individual accent. Hoffmeister’s C major Concerto links all three movements together; Lebrun’s in G minor has a rondo finale with a catchy tune veering between the minor and major. The Bohemians Fiala and KoΩeluch are perhaps more predictable harmonically but both knew how to craft elegant, spirited music and how to exploit the solo instrument’s capacity for litheness and lyricism. Mayer and his team are thoroughly beguiling advocates throughout.