Author: Christopher
Date: 2005-12-22 08:02
Hi Howard!
Nice that you're interested in the Dutch sound! Let me tell you a little about it. The 'Dutch school' began with oboist Jaap Stotijn. He was the principal oboist of the The Hague philharmonic orchestra and later the Concertgebouw orchestra. I won't give a full historical analysis here
Especially the Concertgebouw orchestra, but also the The Hague philharmonic (or Residentie orkest as it is known here) have always retained their Dutch style. But there is an ever increasing pressure to leave the Dutch roots in favor of a more German or French style; one does not consider the American style a lot, as it is unlikely for a European oboist to start work in an American orchestra. But because it's getting more difficult for everyone to get a job in Holland, people feel they are forced to comply more to the International Accepted Standerd Orchestral Sound.
The Dutch sound is a light, singing, human voice like, flexible sound. Probably one of the best soloistic examples is Han de Vries. But it has proven to work perfectly in the orchestra with examples like Jan Spronk (currently in his last year in the Concertgebouw), Werner Herbes, Pauline Oostenrijk, Hans Roerade and (again) Han.
The traditional Dutch oboe reedstyle involves short staples and a relatively thick gouge. I was brought up using 42 Klopfer (or Klopfer imitation Chiarugi ) staples and a 62 gouge. Total reed length of maybe 68 mm. And we use a copper wire! The copper wire is kept quite loose, just tight enought for it to grip the wood of the reed and stay in place. Of course, this is a basic idea. The advantages are a highly flexible sound, with a lot of influence from the mouth cavity and other cavities. The staple has less influence than on a 47 mm staple. I think.. Anyway, the short staple means that the reed is more unstable than a long staple reed. It's more risky to play on.
Jan Spronk, by the way, uses long staples, and still manages to play in the Dutch style. Of course, the Dutch style is first of all a sound concept; I suppose reed design and sound concept influenced each other, but the sound is what matters, naturally.
If you would like to learn more about it, it would be interesting to come to the Netherlands. I studied with Frank Minderaa and Han de Vries. Especially Han would be interesting, but unfortunately he has retired now. Jan Spronk will also be retiring soon, and isn't accepting new pupils. Frank has also retired. Pauline Oostenrijk is playing in the Dutch sound tradition, and is currently my teacher. She teaches at the conservatories of The Hague and Amsterdam. For more info, you could check out www.koncon.nl for The Hague and http://www.cva.ahk.nl/EN/home.jsp for amsterdam.
Tell me if you need more info!
Chris
Post Edited (2005-12-22 09:23)
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