Edwards’ recent Oboe
Concerto was composed for Diana
Doherty as recently as 2002. The piece,
in a single movement, is more a rhapsody
in which the oboe is present almost
from first to last than a traditional
concerto. It may be considered yet another
maninya (song/dance) in all but
name. The Concerto opens with an unaccompanied
‘bird call’ followed by a sort of Lutheran
chorale. Soon afterwards, the oboe muses
along freely to some delicate orchestral
accompaniment in a long melodic section,
often reminiscent of McPhee’s and Sculthorpe’s
Bali-inflected music. At about 12 minutes
in, after a short pause, the wood blocks
signal the final dance-like section
bringing the concerto to a playful and
jubilant conclusion. Edwards’ Oboe Concerto
is a truly lovely piece of music, often
of meditative character and of great
melodic charm. It may be somewhat lighter
than the beautiful violin concerto Maninyas,
but it is an attractive and rewarding
work that definitely deserves wider
exposure.
This CD single is filled-up
with two short pieces for solo oboe.
The more recent one Yanada
(a word for "moon") is appropriately
more atmospheric in character, whereas
the slightly earlier and quite short
Ulpirra (a word for "flute"
or "pipe") is a lively whimsical
fantasy originally written for recorder
but arranged for oboe in 1998 (a recording
of the original version for recorder
is available on Tall Poppies TP 051
recently reviewed here).
Doherty plays beautifully
throughout and obviously enjoys every
note. The recording is excellent and
very natural, so that one is spared
the extraneous noises (key clicks, etc.)
all too often heard in other such recordings.
A pity that this really lovely disc
is all over much too quickly.
Hubert Culot
Diana Doherty (oboe) 
