I wrote the Oboe Quintet in 2014, though its gestation has been much longer than this. The idea came from the committee of the Rodewald Concert Society in 2012, and was prompted by the deaths of two former committee members, David Dutch and Monica Nurnberg. Both were oboists, and both were important figures in Liverpool's amateur music scene.
It's in three movements. One theme, a melody which grows from a falling minor third, heard at the very opening on the oboe, is central to the two outer movements. I contacted the families of both dedicatees and asked them to let me know some of the dedicatees’ favourite bits of oboe music, with a view to integrating some elements into the composition. I settled on Ich habe genug (I have enough), a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach with a beautiful and prominent oboe part. The chords which underpin the first section of Ich habe genug form the framework of the Passacaglia second movement.
The Oboe Quintet was first performed by Jonathan Small and the Brodsky Quartet at St George's Hall Concert Room, Liverpool, on Sunday 12 October 2014.
- ISMN: 9790570680276 (M570680276)
