(all works for oboe and piano unless otherwise stated)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Six Studies in English Folk-Song (cor anglais & piano)
Benjamin Britten (1913-76)
Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op 49 (oboe solo)
Malcolm Arnold (b 1921)
Sonatina, Op 28
Edmund Rubbra (1901-86)
Sonata in C, Op 100
York Bowen (1884-1961)
Sonata, Op 85
Madeleine Dring (1923-77)
Danza Gaya
Sound Clips - click what you want to hear:
Vaughan Williams No 6 , Britten
Arethusa (start) , Arnold
(start) , Rubbra (start)
, Bowen (start) , Dring
(start)
"This is a recording not only for oboists, though they - amateur or
professional - will have occasion to enjoy such finished performances in the
repertory. There is also an interest in the vein of music-making that was opened
up in English composition by the artistry of Leon Goossens. Some of the pieces
here were written for him (Malcolm Arnold, with his engaging, haunting Sonatina,
and York Bowen); others were for performers inspired by his playing to take the
instrument up. One such was Joy Boughton... for her Britten wrote his skillfully
fashioned Metamorphoses, yet another tribute to his technical skill in
its drawing of so much music out of a single unaccompanied line. Another was
Evelyn Rothwell, later Lady Barbirolli... who won from Rubbra a sonata that is
less distinctive than some of his music but is difficult not to accept for its
easy lyrical qualities. These are some English versions of pastoral, as of
course are Vaughan Williams' Six Studies (really for cello, here well
suiting the cor anglais)...there is something to be learnt, and to be enjoyed,
in music as well-crafted as this, as is the sonata by York Bowen.
Jeremy Polmear plays the works with the unaffected enjoyment of their virtues.
He is a sympathetic, musicianly artist, with a sweet, Goossens-like tone (though
- for oboists to note - he plays a Marigaux, richer-toned than Goossens' elegant
Loree). He finishes with a charming little piece by the talented, lamented
Madeleine Dring, who wrote it for her husband, another superb oboist, Roger
Lord." John Warrack, Gramophone
Fuente: http://www.ambache.co.uk/records.htm
