This disc opens a door to the many different ways in which English composers have explored the oboe since the late nineteenth century”

Edmund Rubbra composed his Sonata for Oboe and Piano, op. 10-0 in 1958 for Evelyn Rothwell (Lady Barbirolli) whom James met while a student at the RAM.

Edward Longstaff, born in 1965, studied at Royal Holloway College and Goldsmith’s College. “The incredible energy I find in the contemporary works by John Casken and Edward Longstaff is compelling and almost hypnotic to me. What these two composers have achieved with Amethyst Deceiver and Aegeus is remarkable in terms of the extremes they have pushed the oboist to portray”. John Casken’s Amethyst Deceiver is a world premiere recording.

James encountered by Victorian church composer Thomas Attwood Walmisley’s Sonatina through an edition prepared by Christopher Hogwood.

Gustav Holst wrote very little mature chamber music, and the most important example is the Terzetto for flute, oboe and viola he composed in 1925.

The wonderful Three Moods by Michael Berkeley and the Terzetto by Holst for flute, oboe and viola of 1925 “display what a great variety of character can be achieved and manage to balance vivid atmospheres with moments of real joy.”

To conclude the recording, James has included Vaughan Williams’ Six Studies in English Folksong – in fact, originally for cello and piano.