Oboe Concerto in D major, WoO144, TrV292

The concerto unfolds in three connected movements played without a break, so listen for the shifts in mood rather than applause points.

I. Allegro moderato opens with the oboe rising out of the orchestra almost immediately and rarely stopping to rest, spinning long, arching phrases over a light, transparent accompaniment. The orchestra mostly supports rather than competes, keeping the texture airy so the solo line stays audible at all times.

II. Andante slows the pace into a more inward, tender song. The oboe's melody here is simpler and more sustained, with a gently rocking accompaniment underneath that gives the movement a lullaby-like calm.

III. Vivace, allegro returns to a quicker, dance-like energy, with the oboe tossing off nimble, playful figures. Near the close, listen for a written-out cadenza-like passage where the soloist is given room to display agility and breath control before the orchestra brings the work to a light, unforced ending.

Throughout, the piece favors charm and lyricism over drama or virtuosic display for its own sake, reflecting Strauss's return, late in life, to the clear, classically balanced style of his youth.

Strauss wrote his Oboe Concerto in 1945, in the final months of the Second World War, after an American soldier and oboist stationed in Europe, John de Lancie, mentioned to the composer that he had always wanted an oboe concerto from him. Strauss, then in his eighties and reflecting on a long career, took up the idea. The work belongs to Strauss's so-called Indian summer, a late burst of composing that also produced the Metamorphosen and the Four Last Songs, all marked by a return to lyrical, classically shaped writing rather than the large orchestral tone poems of his earlier years. The concerto received its premiere in Zurich in 1946, with oboist Marcel Saillet and the Tonhalle Orchestra. It has since become a cornerstone of the oboe repertoire, prized by soloists for its lyricism and continuous, demanding solo line.