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Ob. Heinz Holliger
Orc. Camerata Bern
This is a kind of mini-concerto for oboe, only seven minutes long but full of activity. It was commissioned by the Lucerne Festival and played there on August 26, 1965 with Heinz Holliger as soloist, Rudolf Baumgartner conducting.
Penderecki had become famous in the 1958 Warsaw Autumn Festival with three astonishing and original compositions. Within about fifteen years had moved decisively away from his initial style, but at the time the Capriccio was written, he was still solidly located among the leading avant garde composers of the time. The music is in blocks of sound: buzzings, trills, tone-clusters, microtones, and many other effects are used in a music that does generally have melody, counterpoint, or harmonies as these terms were commonly understood.
Despite its brevity the capriccio is in five sections. There are two small cadenzas for oboe. (Allmusic)