Harold Emert, oboist of the Trio Musica Viva, appeared on March 8, 1977 at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, on March 16 at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C., and on March 23 at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. The trio's program included works of the Brazilian composers Jose Siqueira and Esther Scliar as well as a trio by Peter Racine Fricker; Mr. Emert performed the Shinohara Obsession and Krenek's Four Pieces. The trio -- flute, oboe, and piano -- is extremely active in Brazil where Mr. Emert, a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and also a student of Heinz Holliger, is first oboist of the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira of Rio di Janeiro.
Thomas Stacy performed the Concerto for Oboe d'Amore of J.S. Bach, (a reconstruction of the fourth harpsichord concerto in A Major, BWV 1055 by Wilfried Fischer) with the New York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez conducting on April 28, 29, 30, and May 3, 1977 at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York. For the first time in the orchestra's 135-year history, the oboe d'amore was featured as solo instrument with the Philharmonic; Donal Henahan, writing in the New York Times remarked that the oboe d'amore gives out "a marvelously liquid tone, not in the least squawky or piercing, as some performers make it sound. It was a fleet and virtually flawless performance, tightly but elegantly phrased, and precisely pitched throughout." Variety asked "Who ever gets to hear an oboe d'amore soloist? This was the novelty of the New York Philharmonic's program. . . . Thomas Stacy carried the virtuoso burden. Enough to say that he appeared to have full domination of a difficult instrument . . . Stacy was the one ovational interlude . . . a splendid musician." In a concert at the Great Hall, Cooper Union, New York, Mr. Stacy was soloist in the world premiere of Sydney Hodkinson's The Edge of the Olde One, a chamber concerto for electrified English horn, strings and percussion; this performance on May 13, 1977 was the final "Prospective Encounter" concert of the New York Philharmonic with Pierre Boulez as music director. Raymond Ericson of the New York Times found the concerto "a monument of activity and direction . . . The electronic bit allowed Mr. Stacy to produce a wider range of sounds and dynamics, and the music had absorbing ideas as it hints at a waltz (macabre), tarantella (diabolic) and riffs. There are attractive "interludes" and an effective ending, with taped handbells added to the climax and dying-away finish. Mr. Stacy performed his tour de force splendidly . . . "
Evelyn McCarty was soloist in David Amram's Trail of Beauty with the Corpus Christi Symphony, the composer conducting, on November 14, 1977; Carol Mayo performed the vocal solo part. The reviewer found Miss McCarty's playing "so expressive that we could almost hear the spirits of our aboriginal Americans." In December, 1976 she was soloist with the orchestra in a performance of Mozart's Concerto, K. 374, where she was again praised for "her dazzling technique in the outer movements and a warm lyricism in the slow movement." Clyde Roller conducted this performance. Miss McCarty is a member of the faculty of the Del Mar College and was a pupil of John de Lancie and Ray Still.
Elaine Douvas, principal oboist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, performed the Mozart Quartet, K. 370 with principal players of the Atlanta Symphony, during the inaugural receptions honoring President Carter on January 21, 1977. In a "Music from Marlboro" concert during the same series of concerts, Rudolph Vrbsky participated in a performance of the Mozart Quintet, K 452, on January 22.
The Richard Strauss Concerto, once a rarity on concert programs, is being performed more often in this country. Harry Sargous, first oboist of the Toronto Symphony, performed it with the orchestra on March 28 and 30 under Andrew Davis, and again on March 31, under Victor Feldbrill. Malcolm Smith, first oboist of the Indianapolis Symphony, was soloist in the first performance in the orchestra's history, under the baton of Oleg Kovalenko, on February 11, 1977. Mr. Smith, referred to as a "jewel" in the headline of the newspaper review, was praised as "nothing less than a virtuoso his phrasing, his subtle shadings, and his execution of the highly decorative lines were beyond criticism."
James Ostryniec performed solo recitals at New York's Carnegie Recital Hall on March 26 and April 9, 1977. His program included sonatas of Donizetti, Hindemith, and Saint-Saens, the Four Pieces of Ernst Krenek, Piri (for oboe solo) by Isang Yun, and the world premiere of Robert Hall Lewis' Combinazione III for oboe, narrator, and percussion. Joseph Horowitz of the New York Times found his tone "consistently attractive . . . the glissandi and multiphonics in Krenek's Four Pieces sounded accurate and easy." Mr. Ostryniec is assistant first oboist of the Baltimore Symphony.
Virginia Brewer presented a recital in New York's Carnegie Recital Hall on November 10, 1976, assisted by Ronald Roseman, oboist, and Robert Levin, harpsichordist. In an unusually interesting program, she presented the D Minor Trio Sonata of Handel, Variations for Oboe and Harpsichord of William Sydeman, Sensations for Oboe Solo by Meyer Kupferman, Midnight Sun for Oboe and Quadrophonic Tape by Joel Spiegelmann, the Fantasy for Oboe and Harpsichord by Russell Woolen, and Ronald Roseman's Two Movements for Two Oboes and Harpsichord, part of a larger work still in progress.
Maurice Bourgue, first oboist of the Orchestre de Paris, was guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Players on May 8, 1977, featured in three of the four works on the program. With Paula Robison, flutist, Charles Wadsworth, harpsichordist, and Loren Glickman, bassoonist, he performed Lotti's Trio in A. Donal Henahan of the New York Times found M. Bourgue's playing "courtly and flowing, with the slightly nasal tone favored by many other continental oboists." In the Schumann Romances, "the oboist let the two slower movements sing out with a dusky, Schumannesque melancholy, in long and seamless arabesques that required the utmost in breath control." The Poulenc Sextet for piano and winds completed the wind portion of the program.
Bert Lucarelli presented an Alice Tully Hall recital on January 29, 1976, in New York, which included the Schumann Romances, the Mozart Quartet, K, 370, the Loeffler Rhapsodies, and the Quintet for oboe and strings of Arthur Bliss. He was assisted by the Manhattan Quartet, Raphael Hillyer, violist, and Thomas Hrynkiv, pianist.