Title - Sonatas & Chamber Music For Oboe & Oboe Damore
Artist - Christopher Tyler Nickel
For those unaware, the soulful sounds of the oboe and oboe d’amore infuse the expressive, lyrical new album of solo and chamber works by award-winning Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel.
The star of the show is Seattle Symphony principal Mary Lynch VanderKolk, whose artistry plays a vital role in Chris’ compositional process. He explains, I find ways to incorporate her strengths and personality into expressing the music’s emotions.
The Oboe Sonata, dedicated to Mary, is by turns haunting and pastoral, navigating the full three-octave range of the instrument. The Sonata for Oboe d’amore demonstrates the large timbral and emotional range of the oboe’s lower-pitched cousin, from darkness to light.
Undaunted by the historic canon of iconic solo instrumental works already in existence, Chris - an oboist himself - created a tour de force with his Suite for Unaccompanied Oboe, a work Mary describes as more cinematic than his other concert works, not surprising perhaps given his countless award-winning TV, film, and theatrical scores.
The album concludes with what is surely the only Oboe d’amore Quintet ever composed. The instrument’s plaintive tone takes center stage against the backdrop of string quartet, as the work moves from serenity, melancholy, and nostalgia, before ending with an invigorating finale that brings the inspiring album to a close.
Sonata for Oboe (2019)
1. I. Andante cantabile (5:08)
2. II. Andante Lacrimoso (6:45)
3. III. Allegro agitato (3:31)
Sonata for Oboe d’amore (2018)
4. I. Andante (4:35)
5. II. Andante cantabile (5:06)
6. III. Allegro con fuoco (5:47)
Suite for Unaccompanied Oboe (2020)
7. I. Giocoso (1:49)
8. II. Largo con dolore (2:47)
9. III. Con fuoco (1:22)
10. IV. Cantabile con rubato (3:04)
Oboe d’amore Quintet (2020)
11. I. Moderato (4:47)
12. II. Reflectively (4:40)
13. III. Andante (5:50)
14. IV. Con fuoco (4:43)
This rather thrilling, conceptually dulcet, and yet always heartfelt and evoking, recording opens on Sonata for Oboe (2019), where we are first brought the virtually crystalline Andante cantabile, the quietly pensive Andante Lacrimoso, the works culminating on the feisty, playful and perky Allegro agitato.
Next up is the Sonata for Oboe d’amore (2018) which begins with the tender, wrought at times, but still always dutifully ornate Andante, the pure, unadulterated elegance of Andante cantabile, and then the sterner fare of Allegro con fuoco is brought forth.
Along next is Suite for Unaccompanied Oboe (2020) which first brings us the flighty, precocious even Giocoso, the aching yearn within Largo con dolore, the furtively sculptured Con fuoco, and then comes the graceful ache found within Cantabile con rubato.
This most excellent new recording of works comes to a close on Oboe d’amore Quintet (2020), opening on the charming refinement of Moderato, which leads into the shimmering gentility of Reflectively, the melodious, layered rhythms then played out within Andante, itself rounding out on the bubbly flight of Con fuoco.
Mary Lynch VanderKolk, oboe & oboe d’amore
Paige Roberts Molloy, piano
Eduardo Rios, Andy Liang, violins
Olivia Chew, viola
Efe Baltacigil, cello
CD Purchase Link
www.avie-records.com
www.christophernickel.com