Benjamin Britten seemed to be content with his "Temporal Variations" after the premiere in Wigmore Hall London (1936). Nervertheless, they were not published and performed again before 1980. That is probably due to the fact that the critics of that time described his composition as technically unobjectionable but attested a clear lack of "heartiness". Today, this composition belongs to the most important works for oboe in the twentieth century – being standard repertoire. The "Temporal Variations" can be regarded as a collection of small character pieces which belong together like the songs in a song cycle. This is programme music which confronts completely opposing perspectives and gestures, irony and pathos, declamation and grotesque, gentle naivité and religiousness. The variations go by pairs, two slow, then two fast etc. until the slower "resolution" which is based on the first two-note element of the oboe theme completes the form. "Temporal Variations" reveals Britten’s sense of dramatic art as well as his affinity to linguistic expression.

Pavel Haas’ artistic importance meets an adequate appreciation only today. In his very own way the Czech composer, former student of Leoš Janácek, worked with the versatile musical tradition of his country. Drawing from the Bohemian-Moravian traditional and sacred music, the synagogal canto as well as the Jazz, he developed his characteristic, expressive musical language. The "Suita for Oboe and Piano" (1939) was written at the time of the German invasion into Czechoslovakia. The Suita is one of the most interesting works at all within oboe literature and was originally composed as a cantata for tenor and orchestra (with an anti-fascist text). The oboe part contains singing and grieving cantilenas as well as "spelling" recitative declamation. By its ability to mimic the human voice in all its modulations and nuances, the oboe apparently was the right instrument for this piece. The depressing political situation, Haas’ concern about his country and even his own life characterize the emotional atmosphere of the first two movements. The very fast change of mood and character of the melodic motion results in the continuous alteration of the metric and rhythmic structures and of the tempi. The floating motion of the initial motif of the last movement evolves to a hymn just as if accompanied by chimes: expression of a settled belief in the victory of the human mind.

Marina Dranishnikova, pianist, student of the renowned Professor Nadezhda Golubovskaja in former Leningrad, certainly belongs – as a composer – only to the second row of those who composed in the classic Russian tradition of Rimski-Korsakoff. Her compositions do not show new musical ideas, but they remain popular because of their "simple" melodies and well-balanced style. After the piano introduction titled "Andante misterioso" of the "Poema" (1953) an expressive "endless" oboe melody appears, which after several key changes passes into the sub theme. The fast, dynamic B-part ("Allegretto") contrasts the middle "Andante" by the Balakirev and Rachmaninoff reminiscential, oriental harmonies, the lyric climax of the whole composition. Then a fast B-part arises, the first theme in the end, now developed by the piano and accompanied by the oboe. In a melancholic mood the piece ends.

Pavel Sokolov
Transl. Petra Lindner