Author: cjwright
Date: 2007-01-09 14:48
What recordings are you listening to of Still? Do you have his solo recording with the Strauss Concerto, and some Bach stuff? On the recordings, he does not sound remotely "darker' than Robinson or Mack. In fact he has a very piercing sound, yet flexible, much in the same light that Marc Lifschey had. I believe the Strauss recording was done in the late 80s.
Robinson does have a creamier sound, and up close, he amazingly had the exact same sound as he did in Alice Tully. Mack on the other hand sounded glassy, airy, and like he was playing on two popsicle sticks from up close, but always managed to "come out in the wash" in Severance Hall. The airyness and raspy sound couldn't be heard from a distance.
Yes, the American sound certainly is diverse. I think most folks would agree that deLancie sounded different from his teacher and predecessor, Tabuteau. Mack, who sounded different from his predecessor, Lifschey, also doesn't sound much like three of his arguably most famous students, Douvas, Robinson, and Ferillo. I'm sure we could go on playing "so-and-so" sounds like "so-and-so", but ultimately there's a wide variety in tone colors, from very covered/creamy (Robinson, Douvas, Klein, Vogel) to a tighter core/piercing (Tabuteau perhaps..., de Lancie, Lifschey) to thick, complicated sound (Mack, Genovese, Lucarelli). (Those would be my rankings i.e. Robinson most covered of the group).
A final point, it always seems like we get into the de Lancie vs Mack discussion, but we really need to remember, there was a LOT of Tabuteau students who studied with him for an extensive amount of time, and have passed on their own concepts which were very different from those of the Philadelphia and Cleveland schools. Individuals such as Andelucci (sp?), Harrison, Bloom, Sprenkle, etc. had tremendous impact at schools such as LSU, Eastman, and Yale among others.
Final note to Susan: I'm not trying to sound like a jacka$$. I'm genuinely curious what recordings make Still sound darker and heavier, because I heard him on several occasions and never thought to myself, "My, that's a dark sound!"
I think the website http://www.oboistgallery.8m.net/ is going to come in handy here again.
Blog, An Oboe In Paradise
Solo Oboe, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra
Post Edited (2007-01-09 15:02)
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