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Re: Reed styles

Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-07-31 14:43

Yes, Howard, I listened to this program yesterday.

I thought the title was somewhat of a misnomer, because the focus was not so much on the various "schools" of oboe playing, as it was on the changes across the boards in the standards for oboe sound in the past 75 or so years.

Lani (pronounced like "Lonnie") Spahr provided numerous samples from his collection of historical oboe recordings (the oldest being from 1926) of symphonic oboists in various parts of the world, many playing the same passage (Bruckner -- didn't get the specifics).

What was most striking was to hear how the concept of what constitutes good oboe playing has changed. Even allowing for advances in recording technology, it became abundantly clear that today's oboist plays with a much fuller tone, and with a great deal more vibrato, than did oboists of old. I'd also say that the standards for intonation and clarity of articulation have risen exponentially, as well.

As the host (Eric Kisch) commented, an oboist performing to standard of playing evident in the earlier examples (all from major world orchestras) would not today pass an audition for conservatory entrance.

I wonder what has happened to make this so? Is it the influence of the "American" (Tabuteau) style of reeds and playing? Has the engineering of the instrument changed substantially?

S.

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