22 for 2022
Here is a list of 22 pieces I think oboists should be playing and teaching in 2022. They should have and may have been enjoyed (sometimes long) before this. As I am terrible at list making and it causes me anxiety, I actually deliver 25 composers here instead of 22. Think of my counting as approximate. And for some composers, I list multiple pieces. Brevity is not my strong suit. If I don’t specify instrumentation, it’s for oboe/piano or oboe solo.
Earlier, I made another imperfect list of ***THE 31 Most Popular Works for Oboe Lessons, Recitals, Competitions, and School Auditions***. I was thinking of including a token piece by somebody who was a woman and/or a person of color because we definitely see people trying to branch out on occasion. But I just couldn’t think of any options that were as truly mainstream as the rest of the pieces on that list. There are a number of pieces on that first list I truly love, and there are a few I cannot abide.
If you’ve played all or most of the pieces on my ***31 Most Popular*** list, or even a decent fraction of them but only ever a token piece or few by a woman composer and/or a composer of color, please check out my ***22 for 2022*** list.
I see so many students playing one or two movements of many of the pieces from my **31 Most Popular List*** because the whole pieces are just too hard for them (Poulenc, Saint-Säens, Vaughan-Williams, Schumann, Marcello, Hindemith, Mozart, Strauss.) Instead of studying something you won’t be able to play in its entirety yet, I’ve put asterisks on pieces in this newest list which might be currently manageable if you can handle the easiest movements of some of the big pieces in the ***31 Most Popular.***
I have very good to loving feelings about every piece on this list. This is more than I can say for my ***31 Most Popular List***.
I am sure this list is wildly imperfect and missing a ton; it was hard for me to keep it as short as it is. It's always exciting to find new, great pieces that have been either completely ignored or not given their due. Please let me know what you think I should've put here. Maybe it will find its way onto another list!
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Valerie Coleman: American Vein (for oboe/English Horn and doublebass)
Daniel Cueto: Encuentros (ob/bsn) (some movements which can stand alone*)
Viet Cuong: Six Canadian Scenes and Mist Fantasy / Extra(ordinarily) Fancy (double oboe concerto) / Suite (2ob/EH)
Reena Email: Jhula Jhule
Vivian Fine: Sonatine (ob/pn)* / Solo / Second Solo
Lukas Foss: Concerto
Ruth Gipps: Oboe Concerto / Sea-Shore Suite* / Sonatas No. 1* and 2 / Threnody for EH* / Piper of Dreams*
Clemence de Grandval: Concerto*
Pavel Haas: Suite*
Jennifer Higdon: Concerto
Chiayu Hsu: Contrast (ob/on) / Voyage (reed trio)
Ulysses Kay: Oboe Concerto / Pieta for EH and strings*
James Lee III: Principal Brothers No. 2
David Ludwig: The Catherine Wheel (same instrumentation as Mozart Quartet) / Pleiades (ob/pn)
Thea Musgrave: Helios (concerto) / Night Windows (ob/pn or ob/strings) / Niobe (ob/tape)
Bohuslav Martinu: Concerto
Alyssa Morris: Dreamscape (concerto) / Four Personalities for Oboe and Piano
Franz Reizenstein: Three Concert Pieces
Kevin Puts: Moonlight (concerto)
William Grant Still: Incantation and Dance*
Althea Talbot-Howard: Door of No Return (pieces 1+2*) / Troparion*
Joan Tower: Island Prelude (ob/str orch or ob/str4 or ob/ww4)