A Shakespeare Sketchbook

A Shakespeare Sketchbook was written in memory of Timothy Watts, sub-principal oboe in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for over twenty years. Three of the six movements—’O mistress mine’, ‘Blow, blow, thou winter wind’, and ‘Sigh no more’—take their inspiration from the composer’s choral settings of these texts, while the three remaining movements look anew to Shakespeare’s plays, drawing from The Tempest, As You Like It, and Romeo and Juliet. An accompaniment of harp and strings provides the backdrop to idiomatic and characterful writing for the oboe, from the vivacious Ariel to the mellifluous, cadenza-like melodies that represent Silvius the shepherd. This atmospheric work is sure to become an established favourite in the oboe canon.