Sonata for Oboe & Piano - OB/PN

The "Sonata for Oboe and Piano" is in four movements, each having a distinct character. The first movement is rhythmic and marcato with a lyrical second theme. In the middle of the movement is a rhythmically intricate section in constantly changing eighth-note meters. The second movement is a "blues"- plaintive and expressive. The third movement beautifully combines six eight and three--quarter cross rhythms, technical passages in sixteenth notes, and a long flowing melody. The finale is in the jazz style typical of much of Alec Wilder's music. The movement is built on a strongly syncopated opening theme, introduced at the beginning, an expanded in a contrapuntal texture that later introduces other more lyrical elements- a waltz fragment and a long melodic line. 

Alec Wilder is a composer with unusual facility and a strong feeling for tone color and expressiveness in his music. His Oboe Sonata is above all a work capable of being "Sung" by the performer. It is a welcome addition to the solo literature for oboe.

-Ronald Roseman