Oboist James Turnbull here presents a rather intriguing programme of British music spanning over a century.
The disc opens enigmatically with Rubbra’s Sonata in C for Oboe and Piano. Edward Longstaff’s stark Aegeus brings about a change of mood; it is one of three contemporary works on the disc, alongside John Casken’s Amethyst Deceiver for solo oboe (inspired by a woodland mushroom) and Michael Berkeley’s Three Moods for Unaccompanied Oboe. The contemporary works are balanced by more lyrical, following works from earlier periods: Thomas Attwood Walmisley’s rather elegant Sonatina No. 1; Gustav Holst’s Terzetto for Flute, Oboe and Viola (for which Turnbull and Burgess are joined by Matthew Featherstone and Dan Shilladay in a sympathetic and understanding performance); and, to conclude the disc, Vaughan Williams’s Six Studies in English Folksong, here set for cor anglais and piano.
Although something of a purist, I have to confess that the Six Studies do work extremely well for the haunting tones of the cor anglais: this is probably the strongest piece on the disc. An interesting programme, and all extremely well played.
© 2013 Albion Magazine Online (Click here for original article)
