CD review: Vaughan Williams and MacMillan oboe concertos (New York Times)
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, BRITTEN, MACMILLAN: Oboe Concertos
Nicholas Daniel, oboe; Britten Sinfonia (Harmonia Mundi)
Mr. Daniel directs the Britten Sinfonia and performs as soloist in Vaughan Williams’s elegantly lyrical concerto, nicknamed the “the oboist’s Elgar Cello Concerto” by the Elgar’s great interpreter, Jacqueline du Pré. Mr. Daniel’s pure tone and expressive playing is also highlighted in Mr. MacMillan’s alluring concerto, with its soaring lines, colorful effects, fiery outbursts and operatic slow movement, followed by an impish finale. The disc also includes Britten’s melodic and rhythmically complex Suite on English Folk Tunes (“A Time There Was”) played with flair by ensemble and soloist.
Vivien Schweitzer, New York Times, May 2015