 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2009-02-06 22:04
Hi Everyone
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00h4dcm
Here is the link to my latest Swan of Tuonela, broadcast about two weeks ago in a live concert. It'll be online just for one week. You'll find my Swan if you scroll forward on the BBC i-player to 1 hour 23 minutes 10 seconds. Hope you like it. The conductor had a terrible beat so I got a bit ahead in the pizzicato section. Nevertheless, I'm fairly happy with the result. The whole concert is there and forms part of Performance on 3 (friday) on the BBC Radio 3 web page. I haven't been on this board for quite a while, but thought you might like to hear what I get upto in my job. The Swan of Tuonela is one of the most beautiful solos in the cor anglais orchestral repertoire.
Keep enjoying your oboes and cor anglais'.
Best wishes
James Horan
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Author: cjwright
Date: 2009-02-07 02:17
Bravo sir! a fine performance! You sounded lovely and full!
Cooper
cooperwrightreed.com
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2009-02-07 08:41
Hi Cooper
thanks for your very kind words.
As you probably know, the Swan of Tuonela is the 2nd (sometimes 3rd) of the 4 Legends from the Lemminkainen Suite by Sibelius. The Cor tends to sit the 1st and 4th mvts. out. This means one has plenty of time to get nervous, waiting for the long 1st mvt. to finish, before beginning the demanding Swan solo!
Curiously enough, I was reading through your website the other day, interested to see what it was all about, etc. It sounds like you've got it down to a fine art. I really admire what you, and fellow board member, Oboedrew, do for a living. Making reeds requires a sensitivity and almost sixth sense to get the best out of each piece of cane. Also, as reed professionals, being prepared to subtly alter your basic reed style, to suit the needs of all your customers, raises you up to Saint-hood in my opinion. You enable many, many Oboists to enjoy their instuments, which in turn allows the general public to hear the oboe on a more frequent basis than might have otherwise been the case.
I've always been a little bit fascinated to know how to scrape USA style. I love the playing on Cor Anglais of players such as Carolyn Hove and Pedro Diaz etc.
Best wishes for now.
James
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-02-07 09:59
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00h4dcm
Great sound and power on those top notes!
Something I need to do a lot of work on is to get more fullness in the upper part of the upper register.
I must admit I tend to cheat on the C-D-C triplets by using the D trill key - or is it cheating? If it's an isolated and a fast D and the rest of the phrase is in the lower register, I'll more often than not use the D trill for these isolated Ds instead of using the full fingering - probably a throwback to being a sax player and using the palm keys for isolated Ds.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2009-02-07 12:45
Hi Chris
this question of cheating is a tricky one. For the purists it probably is cheating. One should always aim to find the best solution for ones skill level. Working for the BBC SSO we record everything, which gives me an opportunity to hear and assess fairly soon afterwards the results of any so-called artistic decisions I may make. One thing that's struck me in my 10 years at the BBC SSO is that standard fingerings invariably sound better than alternatives. That said, one is often forced to add fingers for legato and projection, based on the particular needs of whatever one may be playing. We play so much modern, excessively difficult music, that I am regularly compelled to cheat, and find solutions to create the best impression of the composer's intentions. Sometimes, that may even involve changing some of the notes to make it playable for me. I tend to keep quiet about re-writing as composers often feel what they have written is sacred. Basically, if a little cheating helps you perform more convincingly, without obvious loss of quality, then I would endorse it until one is ready to play the standard way. Good luck with it all, anyway.
James
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2009-02-07 18:07
... jeepers and dang-nab it, why do i have to download another media player just to hear your masterpiece ... !?
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2009-02-08 11:25
Hi Vboboe
it can be frustrating to have to do that constantly when accessing different sites. However, if it's the BBC I-Player you're needing to download, then you could do worse than to bite the bullet. BBC I-Player gives you access to almost everything broadcast on Radio 3, the classical music station, including not only home grown orchestras, but all orchestras around the globe and countless solo and chamber group concerts, etc.! Each thing remains online for one week, being replaced by a fresh programme the following week. It's just one of the many great services the BBC provides to one and all. Where would we be, for example, without the BBC World Service reporting for the Planet to those who have little or no access to truthful, factual news.
James
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2009-02-08 21:53
... it was RealPlayer
i've never seen the score for this piece, and didn't know it belonged to a suite either, thought it was a stand-alone piece -- anyway, only have other recordings and passive listening concert experiences to "compare" it with, so can't comment on the technical achievements necessary to perform this piece
this is atmosphere music, a tone poem, and it's describing a legend ... so IMO this music has to appeal primarily to the creative imagination
when it comes to choosing between technique and musicality, think the odds favour going with musicality, and i found this rendition created a vivid mental movie of a misty dark northern lake, lapping wavelets on pebbly shore and a lonely swan swimming back and forth -- all of which tells me that the musicians are very successful in getting 'atmosphere' across to me
... so even if you feel it was only fair (and yes, the instrumentation on this recording did get in front of you and buried you at times) -- i'd say musically it definitely had something more in it than another live performance i heard not that long ago, which did not evoke mental pictures for me at all ... and i do expect atmospheric music to do that for me
the only thing that seemed most out of place artistically, but that's entirely my own personal taste so don't quote me, was the very even vibrato on some of your long notes, it seemed much too regular for the misty picture i was imagining, even lapping wavelets are naturally a bit irregular ...
with pace in mind, maybe being out of beat or 'time warped' at the beginning actually added something surrealistic, helped slip into twilight zone, so to speak, helped access the imagination more readily ...
most enjoyable performance, 2 thumbs up ... well worth the hassle of downloading another media player ...
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Author: jamesoboe
Date: 2009-02-10 14:27
Hi Vboboe
I'm just back home from hospital, after having an inguinal hernia operation, yesterday. I'm a little bit tender to say the least. It was touch and go whether I was ever going to play the Swan for this concert, as I was called at no notice by the hospital, informing me that there had been cancellations and there was now a space for my operation. For one reason or another I declined, feeling it was too short notice to expect my orchestra to book another player to do the Sibelius. Besides, I really wanted to have another bash at the work, as it's a special piece in the repertoire.
So, two cancellations later, I had the operation yesterday, and am looking forward to 6 weeks sick leave to recover.
I like your world-view of how to approach, and respond to the needs of music. And it's very interesting to consider your point about varying vibrato more to suit the mood, or complement the tone-painting of the lapping of the waves. I'll try and incorporate something along those lines the next time it crops up. It's all too easy to go on to 'automatic pilot' week in, week out, with the ever changing repertoire.
If any other interesting solos crop up in the future, I shall try and let everyone know.
Regards
James
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2009-02-10 17:39
... so sorry to hear you've had to go under the knife, but the cure was certainly necessary and hopefully timely enough, wish you a speedy reccovery without any complications
auto-pilot's OK when it's automatically musical, especially if it also automatically adjusts to mood du jour :-)
have been reading Musicophilia : Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks (www.randomhouse.ca) which has been a most interesting read
and even though most of the examples are based on abnormal medical case histories, many insights abound for the role of music in the healthy brain too
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