Francis Poulenc is a French composer and pianist who lived 1899-1963.

His
musical language was influenced heavily by the profane and the religious, both
of which co-exist in his work. Poulenc wrote three sonatas for woodwind and they
form part of a set that Poulenc did not live to complete, the last movement of the
oboe sonata was Poulencs last composition. It was written in 1962 in memory of
Sergei Prokofiev who had died 9 years earlier and premiered in 1963 after his
death. Poulenc acknowledged Prokofievs influence on the wind Sextet, but the
sonata is the most direct tribute to the Russian Composer. The influence of
Prokofiev can be seen most strongly in the Scherzo where there is brittle piano
writing as well as a slow, lyrical central movement which is based on a theme
from the finale of Prokofievs flute sonata. Some critics believe that, while
honouring Prokofiev, Poulenc was simultaneously writing his own musical
obituary.
Originally born in Slovakia in 1778, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, moved to Vienna
as child and studied under Mozart and Haydn and alongside Beethoven Although
Hummel is most often associated with music for the piano, he composed in all
the musical forms of his time except he wrote no symphonies. He wrote eight
piano concertos and many others for various solo instruments. His Introduction,
Theme and Variations for Oboe is a concerto and is split into two main sections.
It starts with a dark, dramatic introduction and is followed by a cheerful theme.
This theme is then elaborated with changes of harmony, pace and figuration.
Gilles Silvestrini is a French oboist, teacher and composer. Born in 1961, he
studied oboe at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris. Silvestrini
wrote his virtuoso 6 tudes pour hautbois in 1984-5.Each etude depicts a famous
impressionistic painting. Etude No. 5 represents the painting Scne de plage Ciel d'orage by Eugne Boudin. The title of this painting translates to Beach
Scene Stormy Sky. The Spanish influences are immediately clear in Silvestrinis
interpretation of the 1862 Edouard Mamet painting, Le Ballet Espagnol (The
Spanish Ballet). It starts and finishes with quasi-cadential passages but there is
no mistaking the middle section as anything but an embellished Seguidilla.