Synopsis
Violin soloists have it easy: there are thousands of violin concertos they can choose from, starting in the Baroque era of Bach and Vivaldi, and continuing right up to the present day, with new violin concertos available from composers from John Adams to Ellen Taaffe Zwlich.
Oboe concertos? Not so much. There are some fine oboe concertos out there, but they just aren’t being written as often as new works for the violin or piano, it seems.
But on today’s date in 2010, a welcome new oboe concerto by contemporary Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin received its premiere performance at the Concertgebouw in Amstrerdam.
In describing his new work, he wrote: “It was my intention … to give expression to the entire palette of the tonal and technical qualities of this wonderful instrument. In my score there are however two further essential actors: the [English horn] which permanently imitates or answers the solo instrument … and the orchestra itself.”
Now, Shchedrin knows a thing or two about writing concertos and has written quite a few: for trumpet, cello, and viola; six concertos for piano — as well as five showpiece Concertos for Orchestra.
Music Played in Today's Program
Rodion Shchedrin (1932-2025): Oboe Concerto; Alexei Ogrinchuk, oboe; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Suzanna Malkki, conductor; RCO Live CD 11001
On This Day
Births
1757 - Austrian-born composer and piano maker Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, in Ruppertsthal, near Vienna. He studied with Haydn and was one of his favorite pupils.
1904 - Birth of French composer and conductor Manuel Rosenthal, in Paris. His ballet arrangement of Offenbach melodies, Gaîté Parisienne, is his best-known work.
1843 - Austrian cellist and composer David Popper, in Prague
1905 - Estonian-born Swedish composer Eduard Tubin, in Kalaste, near Tartu (Dorpat) (Julian date: June 5)
1942 - English singer, composer and former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney, in Liverpool
Deaths
1726 - French composer Michel-Richard de Lalande (La Lande, Delalande), 68, at Versailles
Premieres
1821 - Weber: opera Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter), in Berlin at the Königliches Schauspielhaus
1923 - Gershwin: musical revue, George White’s Scandals of 1923 at the Globe Theater in New York City
1958 - Britten: opera Noye’s Fludde, in Orford Church, near Aldeburgh
1980 - Persichetti: Three Toccatinas for Piano, by contestants in the International Piano Festival and Competition at the University of Maryland
1992 - Anthony Davis: opera Tania at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia
Others
1837 - Mendelssohn finishes his String Quartet No. 2, in Freiburg (Germany), while on his honeymoon
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.