Author: jeremyreeds
Date: 2012-03-11 16:12
continue...
I think that Maestro Tabuteau, in trying to keep at the tuning of the orchestra that was/is in use in the United States, had to approach the problem from two different fronts. The first was to try to change the reeds so that they would play flatter, and second, to contact an oboe maker that would be willing to work with him on this issue. On the reed front he probably could make the scrape longer, find or modify different staples to experiment with, but eventually realizing that it would be a constant fight against the instrument. Therefore he probably needed help from the other front , which I suggest, came from the house of Loree (some market reasons may be involved here like e.g. Rigoutat had a good market in France, SML/Marigaux had a good market in the rest of Europe, and the one willing to invest in this new and big market was Loree).
After hearing a couple of the very few recordings of Maestro Tabuteau, I cannot say that he had a dark sound. He probably had a rounder sound than the typical sound of the oboe players of the time, something that came about from the reed/instrument experimentation that he had to keep, in order to maintain his position in an orchestra with a tuning of 440 hz. In other words, another one of the accomplishments of Maestro Tabuteau is the fact that for many years the preferred oboe in the United States has been Loree. This is starting to change little by little with globalization.
Jeremias
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