ABSTRACT
The New Music for a New Instrument project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) – an offshoot of the 21st Century Oboe project also funded by the AHRC (Redgate 2009) – involves me in collaborative activity with five composers. I have collaborated with composers for many years, 1 but this project is unique in that the new oboe differs significantly from the standard instrument, having had a number of areas of its key-work redesigned; it is, therefore, an instrument with a great deal of unexplored territory. The new instrument – the Howarth-Redgate Oboe –was built in 2010–11 by Howarth of London, who played a very active role in its development. The key-work was redesigned in order to address specific problems that were highlighted by some of the most demanding music written recently. 2 In these works, the composers have already reimagined the sound world of the instrument by exploring technical extremes, using recent developments in sonic resources, and by articulating alternative ways in which the instrument can be used (Redgate 2007). Many of these works sit at the very edge of what is playable, but their extreme technical demands should not be viewed as compositional misjudgements. Often written in collaboration with me, they are experimental and visionary works employing extreme virtuosity and new sonic resources as part of their compositional aesthetic.
