This disc offers a splendid celebration of the artistry of the oboist Sarah Francis. All but one of the works was written for her, while the exception, Howells’s Sonata (1930), though written for Léon Goossens was never played by him, and the score only came to light through a photocopy owned by Christopher Palmer. Sarah Francis then gave the first performance in 1984.

Gordon Crosse’s Little Epiphany is a spin off from his orchestral Epiphany, developing the same material in a set of variations for oboe and cello. The main theme is a simple four-bar phrase, repeated at the end with a beautiful fading coda, making a substantial work of almost a quarter of an hour. Stephen Dodgson’s Oboe Quartet is a much more compact work in three movements, the last of which sums up the argument on a more extended canvas. Peter Dickinson’s Four Duos celebrates his artistic partnership with the oboist. Three of the movements use a tone-row from Ives’s Three-Page Sonata but the writing is hardly at all atonal, with tonal passages punctuating the sections using the tone-row. The second movement is a slow piece conveying a sense of foreboding, while the fourth provides a jolly conclusion. Gordon Jacob’s unaccompanied Bagatelles are a delight from first to last, written for Francis when she was starting her career, and bringing out the special qualities of the oboe masterfully.

Herbert Howells’s Oboe Sonata is in four movements, the first two and last two linked. The first is marked placido, teneramente, a reflective piece leading into an even more lyrical, almost folk-like movement. The third is a scherzo culminating in an oboe cadenza with occasional chordal support from the piano. The closing Epilogue, marked mesto, then rounds the work off gently. It is hard to understand Goossens’s failure to appreciate such an attractive, superbly written piece.

Sarah Francis shows her love for each work in the warmth of her playing, understandingly accompanied by her various colleagues. The recording of the Howells Sonata has been borrowed from a Hyperion disc, matching the excellent balance of the rest.