Nang

Ma Oboe Concerto

This Oboe Concerto was composed in 1985, and first performed in the same year, at the Asian Arts Festival in Hong Kong.

Nang Ma is the undertaking of a modern technique (using oboe to play the chords, harmonics and differential noise, etc. ), it was a first Chinese composed non-title Oboe Concerto music piece. The music has heavily blended with Tibetan chamber performance music theme, and applied a nice combination of traditional and contemporary techniques. It created a both ancient and modern taste and mood, and received overwhelming appraisal after the premiere performance in Hong Kong. The critiques commented that“it was created by a Chinese composer (Chen Gang), an American Oboist (Peter Cooper), and a Japanese conductor (Yoshikazu Fukumura), at an international city of Hong Kong. This is truly an international master piece of music!”

25 years later, the premiere performance Oboist Peter Cooper wrote a letter to composer Chen Gang to share his feeling associated with the creation of this music. His letter is attached as follows.

In 1984 I was a young man of 25 and still in my first job as Principal Oboist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. The Orchestra frequently performed the “Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto” and I was struck by the piece’s beauty, depth of emotion and popularity. I thought that a great addition to the repertoire would be to commission an oboe concerto similar to the “Butterfly Lovers.” Because the oboe can express such poignant sadness and joyful emotions, I felt that a Chen Gang Oboe Concerto would capture these qualities in a new way.

Chen Gang kindly agreed to write the Oboe Concerto and the piece was premiered by the Hong Kong Philharmonic with me as soloist and Yoshikazu Fukumura conducting, in October, 1985. I am told it was the first ever Chinese Oboe Concerto.

The Chen Gang Oboe Concerto has beauty, drama, excitement and atmosphere. Chen Gang’s music is very visual. He has created musical imagery which evokes the landscape of China. It is a great gift to the oboe world and I am proud to have been a part of its creation.