Composer
Ruth Gipps
was a student of
Ralph Vaughan Williams
and came of age during the period when he ruled English music. She could hardly have escaped the influence of the pastoral school, and indeed, there are a couple of sea pieces here (sample the lovely
Sea-weed Song for cor anglais and piano, Op. 12a
) and a cheery
Kensington Gardens Suite, Op. 2
. Yet the effect of
Gipps
' music, exemplified here in a program of her works for oboe or cor anglais, is entirely different from that of
Vaughan Williams
. The movements are mostly quite short, for one thing, and
' formal logic is inventive and concise. Perhaps the most distinctive feature is a wonderful sense of humor that peeks out at times. Hear the "Fat Pigeon" movement from the
Kensington Gardens Suite
(this is something
probably wouldn't have depicted). The finale of the
Trio, Op. 10
, for oboe, clarinet, and piano is marked "quasi rumba," and this, too, is new. There are works from earlier in
' career, but there are also some more melancholy pieces like the
Threnody for cor anglais and piano, Op. 74
, of 1990. Oboist and cor anglais player
Juliana Koch
has championed
' music and seems uniquely attuned to it.
Chandos
' sound from Potton Hall, entirely idiomatic for this music, is another plus. Essential for collections of music by women and of English chamber music, this utterly delightful release made classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2024. ~ James Manheim