I wrote my Oboe Sonata in 1965 when I was a second year student at the Royal Academy of Music. The Sonata is in three movements following the usual pattern – fast, slow, fast.
As a young and aspiring composer I was obviously influenced at that stage by a number of composers and I am sure that this can be heard in this particular work. The most obviously influences are perhaps Poulenc, Hindermith and Bernstein. However, there is something of the English tradition in the lyrical slow movement. The first movement is structured in a contracted sonata form, whilst the last movement is an exuberant and highly rhythmic rondo exploiting the extravert side of the oboe.
On the Polyphonic label.