Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Oboe Concerto in A minor

This concerto was written in 1944, for the oboist Leon Goossens and was first performed in Liverpool that year, the scheduled London premier having been cancelled due to German bombing. This performance is by Robin Canter, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Judd. Referring to the closing bars of the third movement, the Vaughan Williams scholar, Dr Michael Kennedy, said of this work: “Very little of VW’s music is nostalgic, but here he seems to be yearning for some lost and precious thing. Characteristically, he has put what are some of his most intimate longings into a work which has generally been overlooked. For a few bars the veil is torn aside.“ Most listeners will be able to identify the bars Dr Kennedy is referring to.