Double Concerto (Henze)
The Double Concerto by German composer Hans Werner Henze is a double concerto for oboe and harp, better known by its original Italian title Doppio concerto. It was completed and first performed in Zurich in 1966, and published by Schott. Composition. Henze's Double Concerto was commissioned by Paul Sacher and his Collegium Musicum Zürich and is dedicated to him and his wife, Maya Sacher, like Henze's Sonata per archi. It was written for oboist Heinz Holliger and his wife, harpist Ursula Holliger. It was finished in 1966 and was premiered on 2 December 1966 by  the Holligers as the soloists and Sacher conducting his Collegium Musicum Zürich. It was eventually published by Schott Music. Structure. The concerto is in one movement which has a total duration of approximately thirty minutes. It is divided in a ternary ABA structure, with an additional coda based in B, which recalls the structure of Bartók's third quartet. In recordings, the tracks are usually divided according to this structure: Since this is a concertante piece, it features many technical challenges, such as double harmonics, flutter-tonguings, microtone glissandi and the so-called circular breathing, a technique which was fairly  recent at the time. For Henze, it is important to have a decorative contrast in instrumentation such as the harp, since "the distinctive oboe timbre can exhaust the listener if overdone". The concerto is scored for the two soloists, oboe and harp, and a string section consisting of 18 soloists, eight violins, four violas, four cellos and two double basses.