 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2015-03-20 17:22
Hi Everyone
it's been a while since I last left a comment on the oboe bboard, but I'm now back.
I'm recovering from a minor operation at home, and, having so much free time to fill, decided to set up a Youtube page of several of my recordings over the years with my band, the BBC SSO, in Glasgow.
I'm making no great claims for myself as a Cor Anglais player - there are many, many better players out there - I just hope you like the recordings, and that it may stimulate some interesting discussions.
Hope you're all well and enjoying the World of Oboe.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQcDTNTuwTPvbp1zad3_Wlg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQcDTNTuwTPvbp1zad3_Wlg
Kindest regards
James
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Author: OboeCraig
Date: 2015-05-01 19:08
James,
Thanks. These and your other links are beautiful playing.
If you don't mind, what is your instrument, bocal and reed shaper?
I play long scrape, but am open to trying alternatives, especially on english horn.
-Craig
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2015-05-03 08:59
Hi Craig
Thanks for your kind comments. At work we're coming to the end of a week of avant garde music which makes one question why on earth one plays the oboe/cor anglais for a living! It means a lot when people, such as your good self, write a few encouraging words in support and appreciation.
To answer your question, I play a Loree Cor Anglais coupled with a relatively thin-walled Howarth no 2 silver crook. I've always used an RDG number 1 shaper tip (minus 1, I believe, is standard) as wider shaper tips seem easier to make a rounder sound on, at least for me, that is!
I recently bought a new Marigaux Cor Anglais as a backup and potential replacement for my ageing current instrument. Time will tell how that works out, but I'm in no great rush to change over, intending, as I am, to blow the new instrument in slowly, in hopes of reducing the inevitable cracking in the top joint, which seems to go hand in hand with this particular make.
Warmest regards
James
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2015-05-03 09:15
Hi Mark
Thanks for your very much appreciated comment. Working in a full-time symphony orchestra, I spend many hours gouging, shaping, tying on and scraping reeds, always trying to make consistent and flexible reeds with a sound that I hope others will like, also. Being from a European school of reed making, I, nevertheless, am a fan of the American school of Cor Anglais playing, too. There are loads of great players I admire from your shores.
Best wishes
James
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2015-05-06 19:11
Hi Howard
Thanks for your comment. I've listened on many occasions to both your Youtube videos, which are great. Your playing is very beautiful. The Dranishnikova Poeme sounds very passionate. Plus, I often tell my students, when learning the Bartok 3 folk songs from the country of Csik, to listen to your performance of it online. It's a great reference tool for them to get a feel for how lyrically haunting this short work can sound. Keep up the good work and lots of success in your playing career in the future.
Best wishes
James
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Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2015-05-28 08:53
Dear James,
You are way too generous with your compliments, but i am of course extremely happy to know that someone appreciates those recordings. And coming from someone who is already experiencing such a distinguished career, mind you i feel extremely honoured!
The reference recording of the Bartok is non other than Bart Schneemann's stunning CD on Channel Classics. Han de Vries was probably the first to record the oboe and piano version, and that too is a wonderful and soulful recording. I hope to do this again next year - there are so little notes but so much music in this piece!
The Poem is one of my favourite pieces of oboe music ever; i don't understand why it is not in the standard repertory when it presents so many technical difficulties and contains so much drama to sustain itself as a substantial work in the canon. Now that i listen once again i thought i played on a reed which was way too heavy, haha... again this is a piece which i hope can be committed to a better recording in the future. David Walter's performance on Youtube is a testament to the quality of the music - hope he puts it on tape!
Really enjoyed your recordings on your YouTube channel, keep them coming please!
Regards,
Howard
Malaysia
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2015-06-03 15:34
Hi Howard
Good to hear back from you. I've been tied up recording Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, and that beautiful solo in the 3rd mvt.
Here's a link on Youtube with the Mahler Youth Orchestra playing that mvt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8CSyLSgMm0
By the way, I wasn't exaggerating my praise for your playing, based on your Youtube videos. I will not be surprised one day to learn that you've won a job in an orchestra somewhere. Your playing shows all the promise of that one day soon becoming a reality, with a bit of luck, should you truly want to go down that route, as a player.
I've just taken delivery of the Piano reduction and cor anglais part of Miguel del Aguila's Broken Rondo, a single mvt concerto for cor anglais and orchestra. It's a beautiful work for the instrument and I thought others on this site would appreciate being made aware of the work.
Here's a link to Johanna Cox' version, which has a cut from the final version. She had the work commissioned and did the world premiere. It's a lovely work and Johanna sounds wonderful in the solo part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUKDxYJmE1k
I'm hoping to get a chamber version of it off the ground in one of our BBC SSO club members' concerts at some point in the not too distant future.
Regards
James
Post Edited (2015-06-03 15:37)
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