Music for Oboe
Liner Notes   Cat. No. NWCRL423     Release Date: 2017-08-24

James Ostryniec, oboe; Charles Wuorinen, piano; Noah Chaves, viola; David Bakkegard, horn

George Rochberg's La Bocca Della Verita (“the mouth of truth”) was written in 1958-59. The title refers to a legend that in neolithic times a shaman stood behind a huge open-mouthed mask of stone to deliver oracular sayings. The title was given to the composition after it was written, but not to suggest a program. The music is highly chromatic, consistently atonal, and observes no conventionally formal principle of structure. Instead it is a fantasia in several sections with the very last section echoing the opening phrases.

Ruth Crawford Seeger's Diaphonic Suite No. 1 was first published in New Music in 1953. Charles Seeger, in American Composers on American Music, describes the third movement as a little passacaglia with its pitch organization dictated by rotating the initial seven tone motive seven times. He characterizes the fourth movement as an organization of phraseology, where the balance of phrase lengths constitutes a successful experiment in structure. A similar organization of phraseology occurs in the first movement; the second is rhapsodic and thematic.

Ralph Shapey's Rhapsodie for oboe and piano is highly poetic in nature with haunting, sustained episodes for the oboe in contrast with more active, angular material for the piano. The dominant principle used through the composition is repetition with variation; when an event is repeated, either the motive will be slightly altered or the setting will have changed so that the effect will be new and fresh. The result is a thoroughly organized composition with a strong sense of direction.

Gunther Schuller's Trio is in three movements: the first essentially a pensive, melancholy Andante mesto relieved by a brief agitated Vivo middle section. II is a playful and lighthearted Allegretto scherzando except for a somber, poignant interlude. The last movement presents the oboe and horn in lyrical arching lines. Towards the end of the movement the music evaporates in wisps of Webernesque pointillism — the composer's first use of this style.


This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.

James Ostryniec

Music for Oboe

MP3/320 $7.99
FLAC $7.99
WAV $7.99
CD-R $7.99
CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print material or jewel case included.
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
   Liner Notes



Track Listing

La Bocca Della Verita
George Rochberg
Buy
Diaphonic Suite No. 1: I. Scherzando
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Buy
Diaphonic Suite No. 1: II. Andante
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Buy
Diaphonic Suite No. 1: III. Allegro
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Buy
Diaphonic Suite No. 1: IV.Moderato ritmico
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Buy
Rhapsodie
Ralph Shapey
Buy
Trio: I. Andante mesto
Gunther Schuller
Buy
Trio: II. Allegretto scherzando
Gunther Schuller
Buy
Trio: III. Lento e tranquillo
Gunther Schuller
Buy
Wave Canon
Joseph Julian
Buy
Work
Lawrence Singer
Buy