Christopher Tyler Nickel - Concertos for Oboe (Mary Lynch; Harrison Linsey)

Information

Composer: Christopher Tyler Nickel

• Concerto for Oboe
• Concerto for Oboe d'amore
• Concerto for Bass Oboe

Mary Lynch, oboe & oboe d'amore

Harrison Linsey, bass oboe

Northwest Sinfonia

David Sabee, conductor

Date: 2020

Label: Avie

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Review

He may be best known through his sizeable output for television (dramas and documentaries) but Christopher Tyler Nickel (b1978) has also created a notable and often ambitious range of concert works. These concertos find him at pains to bring out the character of each instrument.

Not that the Oboe Concerto (2012) is demonstrably inferior to those which follow, even if its half-hour duration arguably over-extends the thematic content. The opening movement finds soloist and orchestra locked in confrontation that builds to a visceral climax, then the central Andante exudes a haunting wistfulness whose lambent harmonies find potent contrast in the rhythmic trenchancy characterising the final Allegro. More convincingly shaped, however, is the Oboe d’amore Concerto (2014) – the eloquent first movement evincing an unease that pervades its fantasia-like successor as it heads methodically and remorselessly to a plangent cadenza which, in turn, leads into an affecting recollection of the opening music. Outwardly more conventional, the Bass Oboe Concerto (2016) initially pursues a teasing equivocation that ventures on to deeper emotion in the central Adagio; its wistful poise is countered with an agitated final Allegro whose deadpan humour feels not a little ominous towards the end.

These substantial, often engaging works are accorded full justice by the soloists for whom they were conceived. Mary Lynch performs feats of agility on her brace of instruments, then Harrison Linsey endows the bass oboe with soulfulness and gravitas. David Sabee secures a committed response from the Northwest Sinfonia (strings especially lustrous in those latter two pieces), captured in an ample but never diffuse ambience. Well worth investigating, not least by adaptable oboists looking for music to challenge themselves and intrigue audiences.

— Richard Whitehouse

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Christopher Tyler Nickel (born 1978) is a Canadian composer. A graduate of the University of British Columbia School of Music, he pursued further studies in New York and Los Angeles. Nickel has written numerous concert works premiered by major ensembles across Canada, the United States and Europe. He is also an accomplished screen composer, having written music for hundreds of hours of film and television for clients such as Discovery Channel and History Channel. His work has received multiple awards and nominations, including honors from the Park City Film Music Festival and the Leo Awards.

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Mary Lynch VanderKolk is an American oboist. She earned her BM from New England Conservatory and her MM from The Juilliard School, where she received the William Schuman Prize. Formerly Second Oboist of The Cleveland Orchestra, she has appeared as Guest Principal with major orchestras worldwide and is currently Principal Oboist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra since 2014. An active chamber musician and dedicated advocate for contemporary music, she has premiered and recorded several major works. She maintains a private studio in Seattle and presents masterclasses across the United States.

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