<<  -- 3 --  Jennifer Paull    WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU PLAY?

I'm as much a pioneer today as I have ever been, and thoroughly enjoy my work .  New music seems to fly through my email and letter box at least once a week now. I no longer care about being considered marginal. Had I been conformist, I wouldn't have fought this campaign which, although very satisfying 36 years on, has not been without loneliness and considerable personal difficulty. It is easy to be a target for those who do not ever wish to change their optic and feel duty-bound to criticise or shun another for having so done.

Acquiring and performing works for oboe d'amore was my initial step. The second became the desire to do the same thing for all five oboes from musette to bass. The colours of the oboes together are magical, almost like a mediaeval pipe organ, and I started instigating works for the oboe family together in the late eighties.

The next logical progression for me was to try bring this music, which I had spent a lifetime amassing, to others, so that nobody could ever again say 'it's got no bloody repertoire'. That is exactly what I have done. I formed my own publishing company, Amoris (Latin for d'amore), with this in mind. I delight in editing baroque sonatas and suites as much as I adore instigating and collecting contemporary compositions.

The oboe d'amore may not have been the easiest or the most comfortable of specialities for which to opt, but it has certainly been a great adventure in which I feel privileged to have taken part.