Oboe Concerto in D major, AV 144

Picture an 81-year-old composer, war ending outside his window, sitting down to write something serene, intimate, and utterly unhurried: the result is one of the most surprisingly gentle things Strauss ever put on paper. The concerto opens with the oboe threading a long, singing line over a small chamber orchestra, the music glancing back at Mozart and early Beethoven with an almost nostalgic warmth rather than grandeur. Its origin story is quietly extraordinary: an American soldier and oboist named John de Lancie visited Strauss near Garmisch in April 1945 and asked, half in conversation, whether he had ever thought of writing an oboe concerto. Strauss said no, but the idea stayed with him and the concerto was complete within months.

What to listen for

Notice how the three movements flow into each other without a break, so the whole piece feels like one long, uninterrupted breath. The slow central movement is the emotional heart: the oboe sings at a hushed, almost suspended pace, the strings beneath it barely more than a whisper, and the effect is less like a concert performance than like overhearing someone think out loud. When the finale arrives, it does so lightly, almost playfully, as if the music has quietly decided not to take its own leave-taking too seriously.

Recommended recording

Heinz Holliger performing with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on Philips has been frequently cited for Holliger's technical command and the transparency he draws from the ensemble in the concerto's more delicately layered passages.

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