English Music for Oboe and Piano

Dang, Nathalie, Lombardi, Marika

95435

The ancient, pastoral origins of the oboe as a shepherd’s pipe struck a chord with many British composers of the mid-20th century. Landscape and the evocation of a place, a sense of home, has been a central element to English music for more than a century, and these four composers reflect those concerns through the prism of an instrument connecting them, and us, back to nature and to an idealised rustic past. In her introduction to the album, the Italian oboist Marika Lombardi reflects on the intimacy of this association: ‘The oboe can sound close to the human voice and in the Temporal Variations I feel Britten is virtually “speaking” to us. In fact, all four composers wrote quite marvellously for the oboe, exploiting all its range and expressive palette, from plaintive to aggressive or cutting, from to lyrical to melancholic. They also make oboe and piano speak as one voice – a voice that can express deep feelings. The conclusion of the Howells sonata is a case in point, being a true hymn to Paradise that leaves the audience moved every time we perform it.’

Works:

• Bowen: Sonata for Oboe & Piano op.85
• Britten: Temporal Variations for oboe & piano
• Howells: Sonata for Oboe and Piano
• Rubbra: Sonata for Oboe and Piano in C major, Op. 100

CD x 1

Brilliant Classics

2019-11-13

5028421954356