All six works in this recording have been reconstructed in the belief that they stem from lost concertos for the oboe. In only one case, that of the Concerto in D minor, is there clear evidence of such an origin, in Bach’s manuscript of the opening bars of the first movement, apparently abandoned because he wasn’t happy about it. The outer movements have been ‘retrieved’ from Cantata No. 35 but the central Siciliana poses problems that cannot, in the view of the present performers, be satisfactorily solved; they therefore substitute the Adagio from Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D minor, the work which Bach adapted in his Keyboard Concerto, BWV974. Christian Hommel’s ornamentation of the Adagio is firmly based on Bach’s. He is an admirable soloist in every respect, with a liquid tone that comes as close to that of a baroque oboe as one could hope for, and he is not afraid to throw in some apt embellishment where appropriate. Lisa Stewart’s playing in BWV1060 is less subtly nuanced than Hommel’s and her tone is occasionally a touch strident, but all in all she holds her own happily enough. The Cologne Chamber Orchestra’s use of modern instruments bespeaks their responsive understanding of baroque style and practice, leaving nothing to which any but the most rabid purist might take exception. All six concertos have alternative recordings but only on this disc are they brought together in very enjoyable, unidiosyncratic versions, pristinely recorded.'