Philip Herbert is a British composer based in Leicester. This delightful and wistful piece started life as a dance project with choreographer Henry Oguike and was first performed in its entirety in 2013 in Leicester as part of Black History Month. This slightly abridged version gives the Oboe a singing line of great beauty. Herbert himself notes that he combines 'hypnotic and expressive melismas in the melodic line supported by the accompaniment supplied by the Piano which draws on the influence of minimalism and chordal figuration that is to be found in some of the keyboard preludes of J.S. Bach'. The E flat section in the middle providessome contrast and the delicately ornamented ending brings the piece to a calm conclusion. The metronome mark should be carefully noted so that the piece floats and flows nicely without getting stuck and indulgent.

Walking down a darkened street it’s hard to resist looking in through lighted windows and catching a glimpse of other people’s lives. The imagination lingers…Night Windows is the title of a painting by Edward Hopper of a scene in one such lighted window. However the scenes in this work though reflecting something of the loneliness in so many of the Hopper paintings are all imaginary: highly charged emotional moments.Loneliness: Anger: Nostalgia: Despair: FrenzyThis work was commissioned by the International Double Reed Society and it is dedicated to Nicholas Daniel.

Commissioned by Britten Sinfonia and Town Hall Birmingham in 2009-10. Nicholas Daniel gave the premiere with Britten Sinfonia and together they have performed it many times since with a recording on the Harmonia Mundi label.In three contrasting movements this is a major addition to the repertory of concertante Oboe works.