The work was commissioned by the conductor Paul Sacher for the oboist Heinz Holliger.
[1] The Oboe Concerto has a duration of roughly 25 minutes and is composed in one continuous movement.
[1] The concerto is scored for solo oboe and a small orchestra divided into two groups.
Conductor David Robertson said of the work:In between this orchestra — that seems to be resembling nothing so much as the speed with which the brain can put connections together between its millions of neurons — the oboe weaves an incredible line of plaintive sounds and happy and joyous melodies, with calm immediately being disturbed and then irrupting into something else.
And it makes for a tremendous ride for everyone, in terms of just how large the palette of expression and musical vocabulary is.