Vaughan Williams - Oboe Concerto [Nicklin/Marriner-The Academy Of Saint Martin In The Fields]I like the idea behind this disc, a collection of the lesser known Orchestral works of Vaughan Williams, he is justly famed for his nine Symphonies, his major statements, especially the 2nd, 5th, and 6th, and certainly his two concertante pieces The Lark Ascending and the Tallis Fantasia are also well known, but this collection brings together some of the other pieces, and it's was good for me to get to know them better today.
Neville Marriner is now 87, still conducting the ASMF, he's English, and it's fitting having a very English Conductor, with a very English Composer on the disc, and a very English Painter on the front cover, Constable's The Hay Wain is an inspired choice, a tremendous painting, it hangs in the National Gallery in London, i've been in there and seen it, it's really huge, six feet long, and over four feet tall, the wording and lettering are nicely placed, and there's a sort of 'feel' for the music and the painting, as if they go together, the Oboe Concerto was recorded in 1979.
On this listen i really enjoyed the Concerto Grosso and the Oboe Concerto, i have a new appreciation for both, they each have some wonderful ideas, and they're certainly not second rate Vaughan Williams as i at first thought, i was especially touched by the Oboe Concerto, with Celia Nicklin as the soloist, Vaughan Williams wasn't exactly renowned for his Concertos [though i have a soft spot for his Piano Concerto], they always seem to be short and pithy, but his Oboe Concerto repays repeated and intensive listening.
Here's Catherine Kim playing the third movement on YouTube.
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