Wang Liang comes home to the oboe

Wang Liang clearly remembers a story that his late oboe teacher, John de Lancie, the former principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, told him years ago.

In 1945, De Lancie, then 24, and the principal oboist of the Pittsburgh Symphony, was posted in the village of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, as a soldier toward the end of World War II.

During one of his visits to Richard Strauss' home, he asked the German composer if he had ever considered writing an oboe concerto. Strauss, then 81, said no. But six months later, Strauss finished the Oboe Concerto in D Major, and the autograph of his score read: "Oboe Concerto 1945 suggested by an American soldier."