Postcards was written in 1991 for the Vega Wind Quintet who first performed it at the Huddersfield Festival in the same year. It is a reworking of a set of eight Bagatelles written in 1965: each movement has been rewritten and enlarged to a greater or lesser extent. The title was chosen to emphasise the nature of the pieces which are in a sense brief postcards from different genres (fugato dance etc). John McCabe (1939-2015) was a British composer pianist and music administrator. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and built a career as a virtuoso pianist. However he also wrote several hundred musical compositions ranging from large-scale orchestral works to chamber music and solo instrumental pieces - it is said the only classical genre he did not write for was opera. 

This atmospheric concert work for oboe and mixed ensemble was composed for leading oboist Sarah Francis who performed both the 1972 premiere of the work and on the later CD recording. This piano reduction is for rehearsal use only. The full score and instrumental parts are available on hire/rental from Oxford University Press.

Teleman â?¢ Handel â?¢ Vivaldi-Three Baroque oboe concert in three different styles all of which brilliantly display the oboe's capabilities as solo instrument in the Baroque form. Includes a high-quality preinted music score and a compact disc containing a complete performance with soloist; then a second version with the orchestral accompaniment minus the soloist. Peformed by Earl Schuster oboe Accompaniment: Classic Chamber Orchestra Conductor: Emanuel Vardi.

A virtuosic elegy for solo oboe in which the solo line is fractured into two opposing elements - lyrical elegance and angular neuroticism - between which there is constant conflict.

This title is taken from Dvorak. However. The models from which the songs are derived are clearly identifiable as are the composers from whose language they have been derived. The piece appears to be in one movement though it is in fact two with a coda. The first is French in style a sort of Waltz. It is quick and harks upon the likes of Françaix and where its idiom becomes more advanced Messaien. The other is Germanic a slow movement with echoes of German expressionism - perhaps Richard Strauss perhaps Mahler. The two movements are partly complete; the cod reconciles their differences and completes them. I see the piece as my own version of En blanc et noir.

The work was composed in 1962 by Peter Dickinson and written for Susi Jeans and Leon Goossens.

Entertaining and vivid. Well suited for concerts festivals and auditions. 4 movements. Duration: 5 mins. 'It would make a fascinating addition to a more traditional programme without scaring a timid audience.' Music Teacher. Grade: 7 - 8

The magnificent interweaving of harmonies and dialogue-like Voices in Handel’s For Unto Us A Child Is Born make it a perfect addition to the festive choral repertoire. German-born British Baroque composer George Frideric Handel originally composed this piece in 1741 for the English-language oratorio Messiah which eventually became one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. As the last song of Scene 3 of Part I of the oratorio which addresses Isaiah's specific prophecy about the virgin birth of a Messiah For Unto Us A Child Is Born tells the news of Christmas thebirth of a son in Isaiah’s words as found in the Scripture (Isaiah 9:6). The delicate familiar theme is introduced by the Sopranos and taken up by their counter-voices the Tenors later the same dialog is given over to the Altos and Basses. The tutti culminates in 'Wonderful' 'Counselor' 'The Mighty God' 'The Everlasting Father' and 'The Prince of Peace'.