Bohuslav Martinů's Oboe Concerto, H. 353: A New Piano Reduction of the Orchestral Score

Bohuslav Martinů's "Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra" is one of the most frequently played pieces in the oboe repertoire. For this reason, it is often played with the piano reduction instead of the orchestra in oboe recitals. However, the existing piano reductions include many errors and discrepancies from the orchestral score, misrepresent the orchestration, sometimes fail to make the oboe entries clear, and tend to be unplayable for pianists. Moreover, the scores were published after the composer's death without him supervising the final editing. I have prepared a new, playable piano reduction to represent the orchestration more faithfully and help pianists work with their soloists more easily. Based on the work of Martin Katz, a prominent collaborative-pianist, I establish four principles for creating a new piano reduction. After scrutiny of the deficiencies of existing piano reductions, I suggest solutions for making the passages in question practical and bringing out the leading voices clearly so that the soloist can join in as easily as playing with an orchestra. To aid in reflecting the orchestral texture that Martinů created, I include abbreviated instrument names in many passages to help pianists to understand how to create balance. I have changed some passages completely to make the sound closer to the orchestral texture. All changes and suggestions are based on the orchestral score and its layout. This simplified and practical piano reduction should help pianists have more enjoyable and more successful collaborations with their soloists.