Although he later took up the baton -- check out his terrific recordings of Beethoven's Second and Fifth with the Manchester Camerata -- the Scottish-born Douglas Boyd was once "just" an oboe player. Of course, saying Boyd was "just" an oboe player is like saying Sergey Koussevitzky was "just" a bass player. Way back in the '80s, Boyd was one of the founding members of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and as this 1986 recording of Mozart and Strauss' oboe concertos with them proves, he was one heck of an oboe player. He had an absolutely first-rate technique -- listen to him negotiate Mozart's lean lines -- an absolutely beautiful tone -- listen to him wrap himself around Strauss' sweet melodies -- and an unfailing sense of style -- whether in Mozart's high classical world or Strauss' late Romantic world, Boyd is always completely in character. And he is also always himself: with his distinctive plangent tone and his athletic delivery, Boyd never sounds like anyone but himself. While fans of oboe players may already have their favorite recordings of these landmark works, fans of oboe players may not mind hearing more wonderful performances of them, either. And as an introduction to either the works or the player, this disc is as good as it gets. Reissued but un-remastered, these early digital recordings still sound amazingly lifelike.