Your Favourite Oboe Work

[Suffolkcoastal]

I have a fondness for the Krommer F Major concerto. There are a couple of concertos by Rutland Boughton, which I believe have been recorded though I don't know them & one with harp & strings by William Alwyn. I have a recording of Ellen Zwilich's concerto somewhere & Walter Piston's Suite for Oboe & Piano. Samuel Barber was working on a Concerto when he died, though the slow movement was nearly completed & has been recorded as the Canzonetta & the oboe also features prominently in his Capricorn Concerto. I nearly forgot Alan Rawsthorne's Concerto, I work I need to listen again to, it intrigued me last time I listened to it.

[MickyD]

Gosh, I hadn't even heard of that one. There's the early work Coloratura with piano as well of course, and Allgebrah with string ensemble.

Regarding CPE Bach, I realise I don't know his oboe concertos (except perhaps in their versions for keyboard) which means I'll have to listen to them RIGHT NOW. I don't see either Gardellino or Koopman in Qobuz, but there's one on Brilliant Classics with Anna Starr and Musica Poetica, new names to me I think, so let's see how that goes.

I hope you enjoyed them, Richard..wonderful pieces, but then I am biased as pretty much anything by CPE Bach is heaven for me!

[Richard Barrett]

I hope you enjoyed them, Richard..wonderful pieces, but then I am biased as pretty much anything by CPE Bach is heaven for me!

Yes indeed, although I didn't find the performances I listened to very inspiring I'm afraid.

Re Jayne's post, the Berio has in fact been mentioned, but not the Feldman, that is a beautiful piece to be sure.

What about the Zelenka trio sonatas for two oboes and continuo? For me they're a bit monotonous in terms of timbre, but fascinating nonetheless.

Another 20th century concerto that's worth hearing is by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, written in 1952. Here it is played by Holliger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDL_QAi-26E

[MickyD]

Yes indeed, although I didn't find the performances I listened to very inspiring I'm afraid.

Re Jayne's post, the Berio has in fact been mentioned, but not the Feldman, that is a beautiful piece to be sure.

What about the Zelenka trio sonatas for two oboes and continuo? For me they're a bit monotonous in terms of timbre, but fascinating nonetheless.

Another 20th century concerto that's worth hearing is by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, written in 1952. Here it is played by Holliger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDL_QAi-26E

It's a pity that you couldn't find the Ebbinge/Koopman versions, but they are still available here on old-fashioned CD...well worth having.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-Cpe-Ebbinge-Koopman-Abo/dp/B00000E6U8/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1537036317&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=cpe+bach+koopman

[Beef Oven!]

I thought this was pretty good. Nice introduction by an anonomous female radio presenter ..............

[teamsaint]

Chary Nurymov.
Gazelles.
For Oboe and String Orchestra.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XEcooKYpn6w

One for the neglected Central Asian composers thread.

[Richard Barrett]

Hunting around for something even more obscure than Nurymov, I came across this Oboe Quintet by Antonín Reicha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViRG1x92bPg

which, as usual with Reicha, is accomplished without that inner spark of life that would make it memorable, although I was struck at how many turns of phrase in its first movement reminded me of the Strauss concerto. Can this be a coincidence? Strauss was of course happy to plunder this and that from here and there, but he usually chose more eminent composers to lift ideas from.

[teamsaint]

Hunting around for something even more obscure than Nurymov, I came across this Oboe Quintet by Antonín Reicha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViRG1x92bPg

which, as usual with Reicha, is accomplished without that inner spark of life that would make it memorable, although I was struck at how many turns of phrase in its first movement reminded me of the Strauss concerto. Can this be a coincidence? Strauss was of course happy to plunder this and that from here and there, but he usually chose more eminent composers to lift ideas from.

That Reicha does sound rather nice.
I suppose that Gazelles probably isn’t my favourite work for oboe. But like all of Nurymov’s work , I do like it very much. And it is important in that it is one of only about half a dozen works that are available in any sort of recording.

The second Symphony is available on download,and the second strong quartet is on an out of stock CD by the Atrium Quartet.
Other than that Gazelles, a piano concerto( in awful sound) and a sonata for solo viola on Youtube are about all that is available, along with some scraps here and there.

Which is rather sad.