[1][2] The concerto is cast in a single extended movement and has a performance duration of approximately 20 minutes.
[1] Reviewing the East Coast premiere at Carnegie Hall, Bernard Holland of The New York Times wrote, "Ms. Zwilich is as always an excellent craftsman.
Double-reeds from within the ensemble frequently answer him, giving a feeling of sympathetic vibration rather than sharp contrast."
3 and Concerto Grosso, Michael Oliver of Gramophone remarked that the concerto "agreeably exploits the instrument's capacity for lyricism and ingeniously provides it with a 'family' (a second oboe, oboe d'amore and cor anglais) with which it can have more intimate conversations than with the main orchestra, but the music does not so much develop as alternate between slow and fast ideas.
"[4] Annette Morreau of BBC Music Magazine was highly critical of the piece, saying, "The 1990 Oboe Concerto is played by the oboist for whom it was written, John Mark, a musician of distinction.