Contemplative, lively and danceable, tense at times, all these adjectives are appropriate to describe this collaboration between oboist Vincent Boilard and the Molinari Quartet. This album is devoted to current Canadian music – in this case, Stewart Grant, Elizabeth Raum, Michael Parker, Brian Cherney. The qualities and great talent of the Molinari Quartet in this repertoire are already well known, but here the oboe takes centre stage. The string quartet usually plays the role of accompanist, weaving a harmonic web on which the oboe melody can unfold. Almost all the pieces follow more or less the same pattern: a virtuoso melody or threaded sound in the oboe, punctuated by attacks from the strings, followed by an abrupt change of tone to a more energetic and animated performance. The only exception to this rule is Elizabeth Raum’s beautiful Searching for Sophia suite, which is reminiscent of the more classical chamber quintets, but without avoiding a more modern idiom at all costs. The final track, Brian Cherney’s In The Stillness Of Summer Wind, incorporates chimes, thus perfectly evoking the nostalgia of the good old days. This last piece of the album ends abruptly, leaving us in suspense and waiting for more.
