Release Date: June 10, 2016
Catalog #: RR7935
Format: Digital & Physical
20th Century
Chamber
Oboe
Piano

Scene Rustique

Madeleine Dring composer
Hedwige Chrétien composer
Gloria Wilson Swisher composer
Marina Drankishnikova composer
Mary Chandler composer

Leslie Odom oboe
Soomee Yoon piano

Leslie Odom’s debut solo Ravello Records album, SCENE RUSTIQUE, introduces rarely-performed solo works for oboe by five female composers of the twentieth century. The pieces range from light, vernacular-inspired dance pieces to neo-classical and neo-romantic works. The selections showcase the many abilities of the oboe from lush, lyrical melodies full of romance and interpretation, to more playful technical passages filled with syncopation and chromaticism.

Dranishnikova’s Poème was written in 1953 for V.M. Kurlin, the solo oboist of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. This piece represents a tragic love affair through its smooth, yet somber melodic lines, featuring more complex passages of agitation. The late-romantic work Poème presents extreme musical elements including a constant changing meter, key signature, and intense syncopation between the oboe and piano.

Chrétien’s Scene Rustique showcases variations of a four-note figure that develops more and more through ornamentation, and rapid key and tempo changes. The main theme of the piece is a Mozart-like pastoral melody then comes into play in the second section and is that instantly interposed by an episode of variations of the original four-note figure. The piece climaxes with a presto section pushed by a vibrant piano solo, culminating with an abrupt interruption by the pastoral melodic theme.

Listen

Hear the full album on YouTube

Artist Information

Leslie Odom

Composer

Dr. Leslie Odom is Associate Professor of Oboe and Music Theory at the University of Florida. Her teachers include Richard Killmer (Eastman School of Music), James Lakin (University of Iowa), Malcolm Smith, (Butler University), and Marion Gibson (Principal Oboe, Louisville Symphony Orchestra). Dr. Odom received her Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from Butler University, in Indianapolis, Indiana; her Master of Music in Music Theory and her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Oboe Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York. She also received the coveted Performer’s Certificate during her doctoral work.