Author: mschmidt
Date: 2012-05-23 17:00
> At a prestigious summer institute last year, my daughter was
> told off for playing the Strauss Oboe concerto, which as many
> of you know is more difficult than the oboe baroque/classical
> works. Even though she'd performed it before, she was told (by
> a "top" oboe US professional) that she needed to concentrate on
> playing through all of the baroque and classical literature
> first. With that attitude directing much of the oboe study in
> America, no wonder youth aren't performing or studying the more
> technical oboe works available.
My hats off to your daughter, and a big raspberry to that "top" oboe professional. Music is, after all, an art, and to constrain the artist to focus on works written hundreds of years ago is a sure-fire recipe to make sure the artist is irrelevant to their own time. Surely, if one's only goal is to win competitions, then one could more safely focus on the technically less demanding works. But when in the history of the arts has the pursuit of "safety" advanced anything?
I am currently spending a lot of effort on the Villa-Lobos Duo for Oboe and Bassoon, and I'm not sure I'll ever get it up to the marked tempo. But it's the most rewarding thing I've ever worked on.
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
Post Edited (2012-05-23 17:05)
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