He may be best known through his sizeable output for television (dramas and documentaries) but Christopher Tyler Nickel (b1978) has also created a notable and often ambitious range of concert works. These concertos find him at pains to bring out the character of each instrument.

Not that the Oboe Concerto (2012) is demonstrably inferior to those which follow, even if its half-hour duration arguably over-extends the thematic content. The opening movement finds soloist and orchestra locked in confrontation that builds to a visceral climax, then the central Andante exudes a haunting wistfulness whose lambent harmonies find potent contrast in the rhythmic trenchancy characterising the final Allegro. More convincingly shaped, however, is the Oboe d’amore Concerto (2014) – the eloquent first movement evincing an unease that pervades its fantasia-like successor as it heads methodically and remorselessly to a plangent cadenza which, in turn, leads into an affecting recollection of the opening music. Outwardly more conventional, the Bass Oboe Concerto (2016) initially pursues a teasing equivocation that ventures on to deeper emotion in the central Adagio; its wistful poise is countered with an agitated final Allegro whose deadpan humour feels not a little ominous towards the end.

These substantial, often engaging works are accorded full justice by the soloists for whom they were conceived. Mary Lynch performs feats of agility on her brace of instruments, then Harrison Linsey endows the bass oboe with soulfulness and gravitas. David Sabee secures a committed response from the Northwest Sinfonia (strings especially lustrous in those latter two pieces), captured in an ample but never diffuse ambience. Well worth investigating, not least by adaptable oboists looking for music to challenge themselves and intrigue audiences.