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Oboe in Hues

Nermis Mieses oboe

Gilles Silvestrini composer

Release Date: June 28, 2024
Catalog #: NV6638
Format: Digital
21st Century
Solo Instrumental
Oboe

What do you get when a Puerto Rican-American oboist falls in love with the music of a French oboist-composer? The answer is OBOE IN HUES, on which accomplished oboe virtuoso Nermis Mieses champions rarely-heard compositions for solo oboe by Gilles Silvestrini with astounding empathy and bravado.

Silvestrini may hark back to certain traditions by using Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and other Russians as sources of inspiration, but his musical concept is almost non-Western in its focus on exploiting the entire gamut of the instrument. Mieses excels at this challenge. An intriguing exploration of the oboe and all that it is capable of.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Les Lusiades: I. Le Roi de Melinde Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 3:25
02 Les Lusiades: II. Egares par la faim Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 4:15
03 Les Lusiades: Interlude 1 Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 1:37
04 Les Lusiades: III. La trombe marine Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 3:11
05 Les Lusiades: Interlude 2 Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 2:00
06 Les Lusiades: IV. L'ile des Amours Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 4:27
07 Horae Volubiles Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 12:14
08 Cinq Etudes Russes: I. Hommage a Chostakovitch Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 1:49
09 Cinq Etudes Russes: II. Hommage a Rachmaninov Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 1:40
10 Cinq Etudes Russes: III. Hommage a Scriabine Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 2:31
11 Cinq Etudes Russes: IV. Hommage a Prokofiev Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 3:08
12 Cinq Etudes Russes: V. Hommage a Stravinsky Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 2:41
13 Six Etudes Pittoresques: I. Gengis Khan Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 1:36
14 Six Etudes Pittoresques: II. Alii mundi Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 1:20
15 Six Etudes Pittoresques: III. ...mais une sirene n'a pas de larmes Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 3:38
16 Six Etudes Pittoresques: IV. ... elle savait aussi chanter d'une voix douce et gentille... Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 2:09
17 Six Etudes Pittoresques: V. Hommage a Sir Elgar Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 2:47
18 Six Etudes Pittoresques: VI. Hommage a Britten Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 1:26
19 Six Etudes pour hautbois I. Hotel des Roches noires a Trouville Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 3:40
20 Six Etudes pour hautbois: II. Potager et arbres en fleurs Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 3:03
21 Six Etudes pour hautbois: III. Boulevard des Capucines Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 1:32
22 Six Etudes pour hautbois: IV. Sentier dans les bois Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 2:29
23 Six Etudes pour hautbois: V. Scene de plage- Ciel d'orage Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 1:10
24 Six Etudes pour hautbois: VI. Le ballet espagnol Gilles Silvestrini Nermis Mieses, oboe 3:19

Recorded June 5-7 & August 4, 2018 at Kuhlin Center in Bowling Green OH
Recording Session Producer Nancy Ambrose King (Tracks 1-6, 10, 12), Andrew Parker (Tracks 7-9, 11, 13-24)
Recording Session Engineer Michael Laurello
Editing Michael Laurello
Additional Editing Dave Schall
Mixing & Mastering Dave Schall

Album Sponsored by F. Lorée

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Aidan Curran

Artist Information

Nermis Mieses

Oboist

Nermis Mieses is the Associate Professor of Oboe at Michigan State University and faculty at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. As a versatile performer of oboe literature from the Baroque period to the 21st century, she has earned accolades at the prestigious Barbirolli International Oboe Competition, the First International Oboe Competition in Santa Catarina, Brazil, the Matthew Ruggiero International Woodwind Competition, and the Ann Arbor Society for Musical Arts Young Artist Competition. 

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Notes

The oboe occupies a privileged place in the catalog of Gilles Silvestrini. He found his love of music through this double reed instrument. Composing for solo oboe, oboe in chamber music, and concertos, it is clear he favors the solo oboe.

“I seek to go beyond the boundaries of the instrument where it is often limited and take it beyond the framework where the oboe often seems to have been enclosed,” says Silvestrini. “I have always dreamed of enlarging its possibilities beyond pretty and even beyond seductive. For example, the imitation of harp and piano technique in my music brings a new and exciting dimension to the oboe’s capabilities. It is important to invent a palette of colors, materials, and atmospheres; all means of composition are useful. As for technical virtuosity, so present in my works, I never use it purely for technique’s sake. I am committed to using technique to create expressive tension or to suggest a certain type of harmonic or polyphonic writing. I leave a great deal of freedom to the performer, even though my scores may seem very meticulous. Despite the technical pitfalls and the questions my music raises for performers, I am driven to create a poetic adventure for both performer and listener.”

Silvestrini cites painting as a significant source of inspiration in his compositions. “Certainly, the arts are autonomous,” he says. “However, many mysterious elements circulate between them to create unity. To me, music is, above all, poetry. Painting offers me this poetry. The world in painting is more intense than reality. The style periods that inspired my artistry were the Middle Ages (Stefano da Verona, Italian of French origin), Classicism (Jacob van Ruysdael, Nicolas Poussin, Claude Gelée), and Impressionism. Other sources of inspiration include explorers of the past, faraway remote regions of the world, and the depths of the forest.”

— Andrea Ridilla

Les Lusiades is based on the epic poem of the same name by the Renaissance Portuguese poet, Luís de Camões in 1572. It is a work intended to glorify the destiny and birth of the Portuguese nation and empire.

“I conceived the Lusiades as an opera for solo oboe, in which there would be a maximum of poetry, colors, and contrasts,” says Silvestrini. “As in an opera, there are euphoric moments (delirious friendship between two peoples, two cultures — unbridled love between sailors and nymphs). There is pain, drama, and tornadoes. The oboe being a very expressive instrument but very limited in terms of its dynamic (nuances) and technical resources, I embarked on a very ambitious, although unpretentious, adventure. Have I lived up to Camoes and Vasco da Gama, one a great Portuguese poet, the other a great navigator? Probably no, but I would consider myself happy if this piece could bring the performers and the audience a little dream and emotion.”

— Andrea Ridilla

In 2000, Silvestrini accepted a two-year fellowship in Madrid at the Casa de Velásquez, a residence for researchers and artists. Totally devoting himself to composition, he developed friendships with painters, sculptors, historians, and linguists. It was one of the most deeply enriching and stimulating periods of his life. After his fellowship ended, Silvestrini left the animated city life of Madrid to adopt the austere, meditative, and fruitful life of a monk. He received an invitation to compose music at the Abbaye de la Prée, an old Cistercian abbey in central France dating back to the Middle Ages. During his four-year retreat at the monastery, he wrote mostly chamber music, including trios, quartets, and some orchestral pieces. He also composed a long experimental work for oboe called Horae Volubiles (Virtuoso Hours), a piece to which he dedicated one hour each day of work. This virtuoso work took one year to compose.

Silvestrini is clearly a deep thinker with a crystalline soul; his music is full of symbolism — of the Earth, spirituality, and the ascendance into heaven. Horae Volubiles combines slow and sustained Gregorian Chant-like melodies with light and capricious bird chants. The piece was inspired by a painting attributed to Stefano da Verona (c. 1375–1443), La Vierge à la rosaire (The Virgin of the Rose Garden) housed at the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, Italy. Leaves and flowers are scattered around the Virgin while angels painted with exceptional finesse are flying around her. The Prestissimo Presto is an illusion of an angel tending to St. Catherine in the foreground of the painting. The long Gregorian Chant at the end, De Sprito Sancto, is a hymn of praise to St. Hildegard of Bingen, a medieval German Benedictine abbess, and composer.

— Andrea Ridilla

Cinq Etude Russes (Five Russian Etudes) clearly demonstrates Silvestrini’s skill as an oboist, as well as composer, because the technique, although demanding, flows easily under the fingers. Depicting five of the most famous Russian composers — Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Scriabin, and Stravinsky, Silvestrini never abandons melodic line within the fluidity of technique, which always bears the transparency of lace. The cultivated musician will hear many melodies reminiscent of the Russian masters woven into the 21st-century style of the mature Silvestrini.

— Andrea Ridilla

Six Etudes Pittoresques (Six Picturesque Etudes) comes in pairs: in Pair I, “Ghengis Khan” portrays cruelty while “Alii Mundi” paints the pastoral side of the legendary Mongolia. Pair II portrays Hans Christian Anderson’s famous heroines, “The Little Mermaid” and “Thumbkin.” Pair III is a mischievous tribute to Sir Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten. Although short, these studies are exigent. Attempting to exploit tonal, melodic, technical aspects of the oboe, they push the boundaries not only of the oboe but also of the ambitious oboist who dares to interpret them.

— Andrea Ridilla

Six Etudes pour hautbois is perhaps Silvestrini’s most widely known work and is popular with oboists worldwide. Grasping the genesis of his études is useful for interpreting them. When he was at the conservatory, Silvestrini found himself envious of pianists who were blessed with such interesting repertoire in the études of Chopin and Debussy. “It seems natural to associate Monet with Debussy,” he said. Absolutely crazy about the paintings of Claude Monet, he opened a book and serendipitously fell upon Hôtel des Roches Noires à Trouville. This painting inspired him, and he began to improvise. “I was in bliss… I continued in the same spirit with Boulevard des Capucines and Sentier dans le Bois,” exclaimed Silvestrini.” Therein he found the inspiration for his Six Etudes.

The first étude is an indirect reference to Debussy, complete with whole-tone scales and an aural portrayal of waves. “I thought it would be exciting to give unity to the six études: musical unity and pictorial unity, like a song cycle,” he said.

The études celebrate 19th-century French painting and share the same aesthetic as the paintings and, despite the intimidating title, “Etudes,” they are vibrant, colorful, and fun. He dedicated his études to Pierre Pierlot and Jacques Tys, explaining, “Monsieur Pierlot was the first person for whom I dared to play them. Jacques Tys transformed them into the chef d’oeuvre they have become.”

— Andrea Ridilla

To God for providing strength, my husband for being my hero, Gilles Silvestrini for bestowing new life to the oboe and to my playing, Nancy Ambrose King for being my limitless source of inspiration, Andrew Parker for cheering me up, Andrea Ridilla for the kind program notes, Michael Laurello for sharing my devotion to details, Dave Schall for brightening the culmination of this project, and F. Loree – De Gourdon for believing in me from the beginning.

— Nermis Mieses

This project was funded in part by the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music at the College of Musical Arts of Bowling Green State University.