Music Review: Roger Roe Recital
Roe’s oboe and horn a delight

The oboe is a bewitching contrivance to listen to: from that moment, within the ranks of an orchestra, its tone begins the ensemble’s tuning process to when scores call for its singular sound and let it loose.

As such, it’s a well known commodity. As a solo recital instrument, however, the oboe is a rare stage-front presence. Even less so is its cousin, the English horn. But Roger Roe, the young man who divides his professional time between playing those instruments in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and teaching others how to play them in IU’s Jacobs School of Music, obviously believes both instruments deserve spotlighted prominence on occasion.

Just such an occasion took place in Auer Hall Monday evening, when Roe offered a demanding program, in collaboration with an excellent visiting pianist, R. Kent Cook, and — for one selection — the added luster of musicianship from Michael Isaac Strauss, principal violist of the Indianapolis Symphony.

The three were heard in a set of “Schilflieder” for Oboe, Viola, and Piano (“Reed Songs”) by a 19th-century German composer, August Klughardt, one most definitely influenced by Schumann and Brahms. Here were pieces that revealed the oboe at its most soothing, a quality that Roe had no problem locating and providing in amplitude. His partners followed suit.

The evening’s opening number, a Sonatina for Oboe and Piano written in 1964 by the British Lennox Berkeley, showcased the instrument in more penetrating form as Roe explored that music’s blend of the neo-classic and modernism.

After intermission, Roe switched to the English horn, tackling a pair of compositions one might label pseudo operatic. First came a “Suite from an Imaginary Opera,” a 2001 exercise written for debut before an international double reed conference by John Steinmetz. The West Coast composer built into his collection arias of dramatic aura, a gallop of a dance, and a grand apotheosis, every bit of all challenging for both performers, but particularly Roe.

A Concertino in G Major for English Horn by Donizetti proved thoroughly operatic in style, with the piano as orchestra and the horn serving as the embellishment-loving soprano (or mezzo) in constant run and flight. Roe’s finger work, tone production and breath control proved exemplary.

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The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music would like
to thank the Herald Times for permission to republish this review.