Concerto for Oboe: The Clearing by Lucas Richman

Concerto for Oboe: The Clearing
by Lucas Richman
00:00 Titles
00:18 1. Opening
04:10 2. In the womb/childbirth
10:46 3. Cadenza/Aria
14:00 4. Transition
14:34 5. Final Dance

Performed by the Royal Oak Symphony Orchestra (ROSO)
John McLaughlin Williams,
Music Director & Conductor
Leo Egen, Oboe Soloist
May 10, 2024

Leo Egen is an oboist and composer, entering senior high school year in Southwest Michigan at age 16. Presently a member of the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra, Leo studies oboe with Gabriel Renteria, composition with Lucas Richman and was the 2024 ROSO Young Artist Competition Winner.

Program Notes:
Concerto for Oboe: The Clearing
by Lucas Richman

The concerto is in five sections played without pause and is about 17 minutes in length. Maestro Richman writes the following about his work:

In the summer of 2004, upon the completion of my sixth and final season as a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony's conducting staff, I was offered a commission to write a work for the PSO and its principal oboist, Cynthia DeAlmeida. I was delighted with the opportunity to add to the oboe repertoire a concerto that could highlight Cynthia's beautiful lyricism and virtuosic technique while also honoring the individual members of this world-class orchestra.

The 23rd Psalm figures prominently in the overall concept of my Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra. To me it conveys a moment of epiphany, expressed in gentle acceptance and understanding, that becomes the quiet climax of the work. Taking the vocal rhythms of the psalm’s Hebrew declamation, I began writing the concerto by setting the words in the solo oboe part as a simple prayer. From this prayer evolved the musical material for the rest of the work.

The “clearing” of the subtitle is the place in which the epiphany or spiritual reconnection occurs, and is meaningful on several levels. The more common understanding of a “clearing” on a physical level would be an open area one might reach after struggling through a dense forest, while the term also suggests a purification of mind and spirit after having fought through the trials and obstacles with which we are faced in life.

The concerto is constructed with five distinct sections linked together into one movement. Beginning with a plaintive melody of descending tones, the introductory section presents a character prior to entering the symbolic forest of life. A surging tempo stirs the character to life and the reminders of spiritual insight and connection become distant memories with the onslaught of earthly reality. A broad melody becomes the orchestral highpoint of this second section, stemming from the phrase, “Gam ki aylach b’gay tzalmavet...” (“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”). This phrase is presented thereafter in its full form by the oboe in the ensuing prayer, as the character has finally found the clearing. With a simple, child-like, acknowledgement of innocence lost and then re-found, the prayer leads to a brief section of recapitulation. By resigning pride and ego and by accepting divine assistance, the character celebrates in the concerto’s last section, dancing a final dance of affirmation.

Psalm 23 Hebrew Transliteration
1. Adonoy ro-i, lo echsar.
2. Bin-ot desheh yarbitzayni, al may m’nuchot y’nahalayni.
3. Nafshi y’shovayv, yanchayni v’ma-g’lay tzedek l’ma-an sh’mo.
4. Gam ki aylaych b’gay tzalmaves lo ira ra ki atah imadi, shivt’cha umish-antecha,
haymah y’nachamuni.
5. Ta-aroch l’fanai shulchan, neged tzor’roy, dishantah vashemen roshi, kosi
r’vayah.
6. Ach tov vachesed yird’funi kol y’may chayoy, v’shavti b’vayt Adonoy l’orecha
yamim.

Psalm 23 King James Version
1. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for
thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my
head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in
the house of the Lord for ever.

The world premiere took place on February 17, 2006 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by oboist Cynthia DeAlmeida and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. The concerto was subsequently recorded in Heinz Hall with oboist Cynthia DeAlmeida and the composer conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; the album, "In Truth," was released on the Albany record label in 2015.

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