Quartetto d'Amore

February 2, 2009

Just in time for Valentine's Day! This Quartetto D'Amore has a part that can be played by either the Oboe d'Amore or the Viola d'Amore, but the piece can also be played in other configurations. The Viola d'Amore part can be played by a regular viola, and, though it does lie rather low, it can be played on regular oboe. In addition, the flute part can be played by a violin, and the piece can even be played as a conventional string quartet (see the post below or go here for a more string quartet-friendly version of the second movement).

A downloadable PDF is available here, and you can listen to the piece in the Viola d'Amore version here for the first movement, and here for the second movement. You can listen to the Oboe d'Amore version here for the first movement, and here for the second movement.

Here's a performance of the second movement, Oseh Shalom, performed by the Camerata del Ré on baroque instruments:

Sonata d'amore

Granted, this is a piece for a self-selecting group of musicians. I wrote it to play with my friend John Dee, who, like other oboe players who own oboes d'amore, get to play them only rarely. As for viola d'amore players, they (or I guess I can now say "we") need new music for our instrument.

Curious about the viola d'amore? You can find out a lot about the instrument by visiting the Viola d'amore Society of America
The score and parts are available here, along with a computer-generated recording.

Duo for Oboe and Bassoon

This piece is now available from Amoris International in a version for oboe d'amore and bass oboe. You can go here for a PDF (the original setting for oboe and bassoon comes second in the PDF), and here to listen to a computer-generated recording. This piece also, I recently learned, works nicely for violin and cello!