Second Meeting - OB/PN

Second Meeting
for oboe and piano
by Esa-Pekka Salonen (b. 1958) - Finnish orchestral conductor and composer

Second Meeting was written in January 1992. The first performance took place in Stockholm in February, and the work was premiered by Bengt Rosengren on oboe and Stefan Bojsten on piano. The work belongs to a planned series of virtuoso duos, "meetings". The first one, from 1982, is written for clarinet and harpsichord. Formally, Second Meeting is very close to a familiar theme and variations category, although there are seven themes, or melodies, all quite closely related. In the autumn of 1992, I decided to write a version of the piece for oboe and small orchestra, trying to remain reasonbly faithful to the original (a la Ravel, perhaps). The Orchestral version is called Mimo.
-Esa-Pekka Salonen