Author: vboboe
Date: 2005-12-26 08:26
... well i didn't get any CD's for Christmas, but have just enjoyed the next best thing this evening, televised recordings which is almost like being there, where you get close-ups of the players, see the scores over players' shoulders, can't do that on CD's or at actual live concerts, but of course can't play it over and over again either, no videotape expert here ...
Anyway, one was 1978 recording of London Philharmonic doing Brahms Violin Concert in D with Itzhak Perlman, and Gordon Hunt on oboe, Lawrence Foster conductor ... hey, GH covers his reed almost to the binding, no tip player there, probably not on american scrape reed, eh?
Noticed he touches his keys very lightly. Recording was too 'distant' to enjoy the oboe part in detail, but some amazing vibrato shimmered through beautifully at times, very impressive
Other televised recording, credits went by so fast didn't get any info out of them other than it was a Euro-Arts recording in Liepzig in partnership with BBC Wales, of Bach's Christmas Oratorio
... much enjoyed visual feast in colourful church and of course closeups of soloists, choir and orchestra members
... baroque orchestra including old-style strings, black & red key harpsichord, old style trumpets with one pinky key
... odd looking bassoon that sounded more like a big hollow pipe (echoey) than modern instruments
... and yes, two baroque oboes
... these don't sound anything like modern instruments, hard to find words to describe the sound, 'fruity' comes to mind, very pleasant yet distinctive in a small orchestra setting
... wow, they had LOTS of playing to do, almost as much as the strings! No 'curved fingers with minimum necessary motion' on those knobby red-brown pipes with open holes, only one low pinky key hardly used (hey, no LHF!) those oboists' fingers were flying up and down like levers, almost all the time
... it was their ability to play for so long and so fast in places -- with all that cross fingering -- this one was such an impressive display of marathon musicianship, who gets into discussions about dark or bright or intonation and tonal quality at 16ths presto when the issue is more likely tendonitis?
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