Album: James Turnbull, Fierce Tears: Contemporary Oboe Music (Quartz)

Fierce Tears offers further proof that the oboe's contemporary repertoire continues to thrive; and in James Turnbull it has a worthy champion.

Pianist Huw Watkins joins him for an engaging selection of world premieres ranging from Colin Matthews' tranquil Night-Spell to the wracked shapes of Michael Berkeley's Fierce Tears I & II. Named after the final stanza of Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", the latter pieces run as responses to bereavement; anger, bewilderment, resignation and reflection. Elsewhere, John Woolrich's The Kingdom of Dreams form four vignettes based on Klee canvases, while Tansy Davies's Forgotten Game (2) offers a pastoral meditation on nature.

DOWNLOAD THIS: Forgotten Game (2); Fierce Tears I & II; Night-Spell