Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra - Strauss (1864-1949)

Allegro moderato – Andante – Vivace

Richard Strauss’ oboe concerto was one of his last works, being completed in 1945. The idea of such a concerto was suggested by John de Lancie who had been an oboist in the Pittsburgh Orchestra and who later became principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He visited the composer while stationed in Germany at the end of the war and clearly persuaded him, although Strauss initially refused the request. The first performance was given by Marecel Saillet with its dedicatees the Tonhalle Orchester conducted by Volkmar Andreae. Alongside the second horn concerto, it represented a return to abstract music right at the end of the composer’s life after a long absence.

The work though lyrical is extremely taxing for the solo oboist. The first movement begins with a passage of fifty-seven bars which really demands stamina from the soloist. The second movement starts with a testing cantilena of thirty-three bars and leads to a cadenza. The final rondo movement looks back to the eighteenth century, and the pastoral closing section is reminiscent of the end of a number of concertos by Mozart or Beethoven.

Each movement contains its own themes, yet there are ingenious echoes and cross references which create a wonderfully flowing lyrical work. The rhapsodic cello opening theme perhaps brings the listener into the world of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll. There are however, reminiscences of a number of Strauss’ own works, including the Symphonia Domestica and the opera Ariadne auf Naxos, and then later the Four Last Songs, particularly Beim Schlafengehen.

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