Invited to choose an instrument for which to write a concerto to mark his 80th birthday, Colin Matthews elected for the oboe. Or more precisely for an oboist, Olivier Stankiewicz, principal of the LSO, and like Matthews a committed supporter of young composers. In fact, nobody has done more than Matthews over the decades to promote the work of contemporary composers: one of the reasons he is so respected in the profession.
The inspired, constantly engaging concerto that resulted, here receiving its world premiere, doesn’t play to the stereotype of the instrument in the serene mode of English pastoral music. Rather it embraces lyrical, playful and athletic modes in a virtually unbroken melos – not unlike Richard Strauss’s concerto in that respect. How Stankiewicz found time to breathe remains a mystery: his playing was an absolute tour de force.
