Rhapsody for Oboe Quartet (1994)

Written in 1994 as part of Columbia College’s composition project and later recorded by students at the Manhattan School of Music, this single-movement work marks Rue Yamauchi’s second major composition for oboe. A former first-chair oboist in New Jersey’s state honors ensembles and a member of the Columbia University Orchestra, Rue brings deep familiarity with the instrument to this piece. Written in a strict sonata form with distinct primary and secondary themes but without a slow section, it unfolds as an unrelenting, lyrical rhapsody of power and expressive intensity.

4.5 minutes