More than two decades since its premiere, Nicholas Maw’s Little Concert is still impressing audiences with its expressive melodies and poetic harmonies.The Britten Sinfonia and director Paul Lewis were on fine form as they performed the work at West Road, Cambridge. Maw’s delicate oboe writing was excellently expressed by Nicholas Daniel, who has performed the work many times before. Maw, who passed away in 2009, has been somewhat neglected since his untimely death. Time for a re-assessment! See below…
‘How much braver, and lonelier, it was to write lyrical music in the 1980s, when Nicholas Maw composed his Little Concert for oboe and chamber orchestra. Had Maw been born 50 years earlier or later, instead of in 1935, he would have had a much easier ride. Little Concert lasts barely 12 minutes, yet from wistful beginning to zesty virtuosic finale it evokes worlds of emotion. In the eloquent hands of the oboist Nicholas Daniel it sounded like a miniature masterpiece.’
The Times (Richard Morrison), 11 October 13