Poul Ruders

Concerto For Oboe Solo And Small Orchestra

The Small concerto for solo oboe and chamber orchestra was commissioned by The Royal Library of Copenhagen for the inauguration of a concert hall located at the new library annex, the so-called Black Diamond, September 1999. The work as such focuses more on the contemplative and sonorously introvert, rather than more virtuosity; it is in four movements, what could be called four little tone-poems on (and inspired by) the names of the four moon craters known as: Lake of Dream - Ocean of Storms - Sea of Tranquillity - Lake of Death, four enigmatic and deeply fascinating ancient conceptions of the landscape on this our closest, but at the same time most legendary and myth-shrouded celestial body. The work was composed in 1998 for Athelas-Sinfonietta Copenhagen and Swedish obo virtuoso Helen Jahren. The work was dedicated to Helen Jahren.