Concerto

In the concertante oboe repertory the 'Concerto for oboe and small orchestra' by Bohuslav Martinu has established itself as a work of the first order, alongside the concerti of Mozart and Richard Strauss. Commissioned by the Daily Telegraph on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956, this concerto was written for oboist Jiri Tancibudek who gave the first performance in August, 1956 with the Sidney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. The present edition was the occasion for returning to the work's sources, mainly the composer's autograph manuscript but also the scores used during the lifetime of the composer by performers such as Tancibudek and Lady Evelyn Rothwell Barbirolli. Tancibudek had the privelage of working with the composer. The modifications and the ossia suggested by Tancibudek and approved by Martinu, but also the suppressions then made, are now presented as optional alternatives and thus become accessible to performers. The most striking innovation is the reintroduction of this new edition of Cadenza II in the third movement, that Tancibudek had suppressed with the composer's agreement and which had not been retained in the first edition.