Author: Oboelips
Date: 2012-05-25 20:28
You just never know. I was undecided when I had a need to buy a 'lightly used' oboe several years back, and downgrading my vintage Loree to backup oboe. I played many brands and makes. Eventually, when I had 3 pro oboes in for tryout, I made a checklist (grading oboe A, B and C on things like scale, agility, sound, brightness, darkness, lyricicity, high, low, etc.) and gave it to listeners I could trust (having the same concept of what a good oboe sound is as I do) to fill out from a nearby room while I played up a storm on each oboe ("OK--here is Oboe A" --a blind audition of each oboe). To keep the experiment more scientific, I selected one reed and used the same reed with each oboe.
Much to my surprise, I ended up with a Rigoutat Evolution-not a Loree. I've now heard it recorded within my orchestra many times--it was the right choice. Because the acoustics of an oboe ARE so different at 40 feet as opposed to 1 foot away, what others hear really counts. I now know that it was the right choice, and a good, logical way to select an oboe--it was selected for how it sounded by my knowledgeable/informed listeners at an acoustically appropriate distance.
A little help from my friends...
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