Five North-Eastern Scenes for oboe and piano was commissioned by the Kunstförderverein Kreis Düren e. V. for the 2016 Spannungen chamber music festival in Heimbach Germany. 'The piece is in five shortmovements. The first third and fifth explore space and melancholy while the 2nd and 4th are fleeting and at times more violent. This is the third work in which I have used the paintings of the Scottish artistJoan Eardley as a starting point. Her vast emotive snow scenes painted outside in the brief periods of calm between snow storms capture the striking yet bleak beauty of North East Scotland an area where I grew up but have notvisited for many years.' - Helen Grime.