Author: kdrew922
Date: 2008-05-29 14:22
Over the course of my three-year appointment as a GTA at The Ohio State University (which is just coming to a close this week!), every quarter I set aside a day to play recordings for my Oboe Methods course, just so they can actually hear the diversity of sounds out there. I mostly play them recordings from within the past few years, so they can hear how oboists are sounding nowadays. But I also toss in a few tracks of Holliger, Pierlot, Tabuteau, DeLancie, Lifschey, etc., so they can hear some of the sounds of earlier eras that are now a little out of fashion.
Much to my surprise, I've found that non-oboists usually put Holliger's sound at the top of the list, describing it as "darker," "sweeter," and "more expressive" than the sounds of Tabuteau, Mack, Still, Klein, Vogel, Mayer, Leleux, etc. I say "much to my surprise" not because I don't like Holliger's sound (I love it, actually), but because too much shop talk with oboists has left me just expecting his sound not to be liked by others.
Sometimes I feel like we as oboists want to classify players as either "good tone" or "good technique," as if the two are mutually exclusive, perhaps because it makes us feel a little uneasy (and perhaps ashamed of our own shortcomings!) when we hear players who combine effortless virtuosity with a gorgeous sound. It's just not fair for one player to have it all, right?
Cheers,
Drew
Post Edited (2008-05-29 14:24)
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
