Fierce virtuosity and sheer delight: oboist Olivier Stankiewicz, soprano Lucy Crowe, violinist Maria Włoszczowska & friends in a captivating evening of Bach, Zelenka, Handel, Vivaldi

Bach: Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen – Olivier Stankiewicz, Lucy Crowe, ensemble led by Maria Włoszczowska – Wigmore Hall (taken from live stream)

Bach: arias from Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen and Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, Concerto in G minor, Double Concerto in C minor, Zelenka: Sonata No. 3, Vivaldi: Oboe Concerto in F, Handel: arias from Amadigi di Gaula, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Agrippina; Olivier Stankiewicz, Lucy Crowe, ensemble led by Maria Włoszczowska; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 22 April 2024

An evening of Baroque music for voice and oboe; a completely captivating evening of virtuosity and bravura combining with real delight at performing together

Olivier Stankiewicz, principal oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra, and soprano Lucy Crowe joined forces at Wigmore Hall last night (22 April 2025) for a completely entrancing evening of Baroque music focusing on oboe and soprano. Joined by an ensemble led by violinist Maria Włoszczowska, leader of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, they performed arias from Bach’s cantatas Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen BWV32 and Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten BWV202, plus the reconstructed Oboe Concerto in G minor BWV1056R and Double Concerto in C minor BWV1060R, Zelenka’s Sonata No. 3 in B flat for violin, oboe, bassoon and basso continuo ZWV181, Vivaldi’s Oboe Concerto in F RV457 and arias from Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Agrippina.

We began with the aria ‘Liebster Jesu’ from Bach’s cantata Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, written for the First Sunday after Epiphany in 1726. Stankiewicz’ oboe unwound a long, elegant chromatic line over crisp strings before being joined by Crowe, the two trading phrases, her clear plangent tone contrasting with his darker yet elegant sound, creating something magical. The oboe got the last word with a lovely postlude.

Then came the Oboe Concerto in G minor, based on the harpsichord concerto the solo instrument may be oboe but could be violin. Here, Stankiewicz made a fine case for the oboe. The opening movement had crisply vigorous strings with rich tone and a nice bound, complementing Stankiewicz’s elegant oboe with some fluid fast passagework demonstrating his fine breath control. The slow movement was notable for his wonderful long elegant lines with full tone, then the final movement was a robust dance, the instrumentalists providing a full texture alongside Stankiewicz’ perky oboe playing, with its cheeky runs.

Bach’s cantata Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten is an early wedding cantata. The surviving manuscript dates from the 1730s and commentators are in some disagreement about the cantata’s date, perhaps Bach’s own wedding in 1721 or perhaps even earlier. We had the final sequence of the cantata, beginning with the aria ‘Weichet nur’, a gorgeous thing where time seemed suspended, atmospheric instrumental arpeggio figures with oboe and voice floating over. Recitative led to the aria ‘Sich üben im Lieben’, a perky dance featuring flowing yet cheeky oboe lines and delightfully dancey voice, and Maria Włoszczowska duetting with the oboe too. The whole rather toe tapping. Another recitative led to the final aria, a rather gallant dance featuring strong strings and Crowe’s vocal line elegantly decorated by Stankiewicz.

The first half, and the Bach sequence, ended with the Double Concerto in C minor for oboe and violin. Another reconstruction from the double harpsichord concerto, the solo instrumentation is rather more secure here. Olivier Stankiewicz was joined by Maria Włoszczowska on the solo violin line. The opening tutti was strong indeed and I loved the way the solo lines naturally arose from the tutti. Stankiewicz’ strong tone meant that the oboe line was never in doubt and there was fine balance with Włoszczowska’s violin. They performed at quite an impetus with a sense of infectious delight at playing together. The slow movement featured the two in long intertwining lines, the timbres contrasting beautifully, then the finale was brisk and vivid, taken at quite a lick. The whole performance was captivating with a sense of good humour from all.

After the interval we began with Bach’s contemporary, Jan Dismas Zelenka and his trio sonata for violin, oboe, bassoon and basso continue played by Olivier Stankiewicz and Maria Włoszczowska with Amy Harman on bassoon, Jordi Carrasco-Hjelm on double bass and Satoko Doi-Luck on harpsichord. The first, slow movement, was something of a stately dance, violin and oboe interweaving, yet Zelenka gave the bassoon a significantly prominent role and throughout the trio sonata his promotion of the bassoon line pushed the work into other territory, verging on the eccentric at times. The line-up on stage, with basso continuo from the double bass and a distinctly reticent harpsichord meant that the overall texture had a starkness to it. The second movement featured engaging dialogue between oboe and violin but what we noticed was the ridiculously busy bassoon line, with Amy Harman demonstrating fierce virtuosity. It was mad, yet engaging. The second slow movement was a plangent duet, yet again a strong bassoon line created almost a real trio, and then the finale seemed to involved violin, oboe and bassoon in a series of duets and near trios, the whole a robust country dance. Yet there were moments when violin and oboe duetted and the bassoon seemed in a different world!

We followed this with something more approachable, yet no less virtuosic. Melissa’s aria, ‘Desterò dall’empia Dite’ from Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula, with Stankiewicz’ oboe duetting with Julian Poore’s high trumpet in real virtuoso fashion, and Lucy Crowe giving us a fierce performance, really working the fioriture and making the aria virtuosic yet suitably trenchant.

Then came Vivaldi’s Oboe Concerto in F from around 1735 and arranged from an earlier bassoon concerto. The thrumming strings contrasted between strong and delicate, with the players really playing up the contrasts, and these alternated with Stankiewicz’ sprightly elaborate oboe lines. The slow movement had Stankiewicz spinning decorative lines over a walking bass, pure Vivaldi, and then the finale featured more contrasts with vigorous strings and busy oboe.

We finished with two more Handel arias. First ‘Qui l’augel da pianta in pianta’ from the cantata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo where oboe, violin and voice all vied with one another to evoke the birds mentioned in the aria text. Ravishing textures and even a voice and oboe cadenza creating real magic. we finished with Poppea’s rather fiercer aria, ‘Se giunge un dispetto’ from Agrippina. Here we had a lively dance, taken at quite a lick with both oboe and voice giving us some spectacular passagework with Crowe making the piece suitably fierce.

This was a remarkably full and generous programme, and throughout you felt the performers real delight, enjoying both the music and the sheer act of making music together. The whole was completely captivating, virtuosity and bravura combining with real delight. We were treated to an encore a further Handel aria, from Teseo this time.

Olivier Stankiewicz oboe, Lucy Crowe soprano
Maria Włoszczowska violin I, Benjamin Baker violin I, Tim Crawford violin II, Yume Fujise violin II, Hélène Clément viola, Carol Ella viola, Tim Posner, cello, Jordi Car -Hjelm double bass, Amy Harman bassoon, Julian Poore trumpet, Satoko Doi-Luck harpsichord

The concert was recorded and is available on Wigmore Hall’s website.