Cooke & Jones: Oboe Sonatas Catherine Tanner-Williams & Christopher Williams

• Arnold Cooke (1906 - 2005): Oboe Sonata No. 2:
• 1 Oboe Sonata No. 2: I. Lento - Allegro 06:05
• 2 Oboe Sonata No. 2: II. Adagio 06:12
• 3 Oboe Sonata No. 2: III. Rondo. Allegro vivace 04:08
• Arnold Cooke: Oboe Sonata No. 1:
• 4 Oboe Sonata No. 1: I. Andante - Allegro vivace 06:08
• 5 Oboe Sonata No. 1: II. Andante 05:37
• 6 Oboe Sonata No. 1: III. Rondo. Allegro giocoso 06:38
• Richard Elfyn Jones (b. 1944): Oboe Sonata "Viva Altea!":
• 7 Oboe Sonata "Viva Altea!": I. Fiesta en la Playa 05:15
• 8 Oboe Sonata "Viva Altea!": II. Meditación 03:36
• 9 Oboe Sonata "Viva Altea!": III. Barullo! 04:22
• Catherine Tanner-Williams (b. 1973):
• 10 Luminous 06:16
• 11 Darkness Falling with Birdsong 09:57
• Total Runtime 01:04:14

Info for Cooke & Jones: Oboe Sonatas

This recording of Arnold Cooke's two lyrical Oboe Sonatas is the first for many years, having previously been recorded by its dedicatees. Features three world premiere recordings: The Viva Altea! Sonata for Oboe and Piano, and oboist Catherine Tanner Williams.

An (almost!) World Premiere recording of Arnold Cooke's two oboe sonatas, the World Premiere recording of Richard Elfyn Jones's Spanish flavoured Oboe Sonata- 'Viva Altea!', and World Premiere recordings of Luminous and Darkness Falling with Birdsong by oboist and composer Catherine Tanner-Williams.

This album brings together oboe music by three composers who are linked by the premiering of each other's works.

Although the British Library lists recordings of radio broadcasts made by Evelyn Rothwell and Sarah Francis, made in the late 1980's, no recordings of Arnold Cooke's lyrical oboe sonatas have been commercially available.

Catherine Tanner-Williams, oboe
Christopher Williams, piano

Catherine Tanner-Williams
Cornish oboist Catherine studied Music at Cardiff University, where she met her husband, the pianist Christopher Williams.

They began playing together almost from the moment they met, and he accompanied her for her final degree recital, her ARCM (Performing) Diploma, and her final postgraduate recital at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In their 25 years as a couple, on and off stage, they have performed together across the UK.

Their World Premiere recording of works by R.Strauss, Mozart and Glinka is available on Willowhayne Records.

While at university, Catherine gave the premiere of Anthony Power’s ...further in shadow... for oboe and orchestra, and won an award from The Countess of Munster Musical Trust to study with Douglas Boyd and Sophia McKenna. Her teachers also included David Cowley and Celia Craig. She has played principal oboe with many orchestras including Welsh Sinfonia, English Symphony Orchestra, Bath Philharmonia, Chamber Orchestra of Wales, Welsh Concert Orchestra, Orchestra de Cymru (with whom she recorded her own Oboe Concerto under Emmanuel Siffert), Festival Orchestra of Wales, Westward Chamber Orchestra, Burry Port Opera, St Woolos Sinfonia, Hereford Sinfonia, Cardiff Bach Orchestra (with whom she performed Bach’s Concerto for Oboe d’amore), and also freelanced with Cardiff Sinfonietta and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

As well as her Oboe Concerto, other compositions include Darkness Falling, with Birdsong which she premiered with Chris in Cheltenham Town Hall; Hidden Birds for trumpet and piano, premiered by Philippe Schartz and Christopher Williams in Columbus, Ohio at the International Trumpet Guild; and the piano piece Blue and White; Dreaming of Sleep premiered in St David’s Hall, Cardiff by her husband.

Booklet for Cooke & Jones: Oboe Sonatas