 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: philadelphiaoboe
Date: 2018-06-16 10:46
Author: philadelphiaoboe
Date: 2018-06-15 01:03
Just some information on the B series copies John Ferrillo is producing:
They are made with DeLancie's specs, and have a darker, smoother, deeper, and more focused/less spread tone for multiple reasons:
1. The original B series has slightly smaller tone holes than the modern Loree oboe, making it less apt to spread the sound- however it has a huge, clear, singing tone in the orchestra because Loree oboes have more undercutting than virtually every other brand, which gives life and vitality to the tone- though you have to know how to make good reeds.. important to remember there's a huge difference between what sounds LOUD up close and what actually sings and travels in the hall- the B series oboes create more of an "outline" "core" or "definition" to the tone as some like to call it. Ferrillo himself does not especially favor the Royale oboes everyone has begun to turn to.
2. The bore is narrower and longer- the keys are literally spaced out longer- creating a truer depth to the instrument. The narrowness also makes the sound less brash. The Royale on the contrary has a very large bore (as do Howarth XLs) that creates brashness in the tone in an attempt to make the instruments "Louder"- however; in order to counter the brashness they had to thicken the walls of the Royale and XLs, therefore creating a deader sound. Of course there are thousands of oboists who sound wonderful on both- but there's a vitality to th older Lorees that is being looked back on as people have begun approaching other brands.
3. There is no low B flat or F resonance on the copies- because Ferrillo believes the more unnecessary holes you drill into the bore of the oboe, the less whole the tone is, which can interestingly enough be felt in the evenness of tone color from top to bottom, alongside all of the other factors.
4. Loree oboes have gone out of fashion not because others have outpaced them- but simply because they have forgotten their past. Before Tabuteau's death (the B series were circa 1960-69) Tabuteau was one of the sole givers of input to Loree- and would whack them over the head if they started to veer off path. The man had experimented to great lengths with Moennig- and we can thank much of the understanding of proper voicing and undercutting of tone holes to the two of them. There was intended to be a clear lineage of care takers of the modifications done to Loree oboes- the next in line being DeLancie. However- DeLancie had a fall out with Loree: he had given them his own measurements and asked they label it the "DeLancie model"- a few of these still exist- however, Loree began to use his measurements on their non-DeLancie model oboes, which angered him and adversely affected his relationship with Loree. After this fall-out Loree began asking MANY people input on their oboes, those in and out of the Tabuteau school- a recipe for the creation of a truly uneven scale and going off-course in other tonal aspects. Why do I say this? It's like when too many chefs are in the kitchen trying to make the same soup- something is bound to happen that isn't consistent with what ANY of them intend, which is why having a select lineage of input-givers brought Loree to its greatness early on.
5. Ferrillo has also gotten Loree to implement a slight change in bore dimension of the top of the bottom joint- something DeLancie had done to his own oboe that had made low register much more fluid and easy- as certain asymmetries in the bore have these affects when done VERY carefully and minimally so as to not cause certain notes to sag in the scale of the oboe. Loree has also began to implement this bore change into their very recent AK models (U-somethings)
6. Ferrillo has gotten Loree to put in a partial polymer sleeve in the top joint of the recent B series copies that goes from the top down to the half-hole to create almost complete assurance against cracking, while still allowing for the resonance of wood.
Ferrillo does not like to take credit for these oboes- he has simply excavated into the past, and goes to Loree every couple of months to check up on the oboes and offer suggestions- which he has allowed them to implement into the new AK models (the recent U models that have been very popular for their evenness of scale and easier low register due to his specs).
Post Edited (2018-06-23 08:00)
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2018-06-19 12:08
a quick question to the experts; if the half-sleeve only goes up to the half-hole, how will this prevent cracks between the trill-keys? That is often where they begin.
J.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2018-06-19 16:17
jhoyla wrote:
"a quick question to the experts; if the half-sleeve only goes up to the half-hole, how will this prevent cracks between the trill-keys? That is often where they begin."
If the top joint bore is sleeved from the reed socket down to between the C# and C toneholes, then that will also cover the area where the trill toneholes are located.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2018-06-19 19:12
my misunderstanding - I understood the sleeve to be from the tenon joint. Thanks for the clarification.
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Author: philadelphiaoboe
Date: 2018-06-23 07:59
Sorry- just spoke to Mr. Ferrillo today, I believe the Delrin liner does come from the top down to the half hole. I mis-wrote, my bad. They are excellent instruments- Linda Strommen, former Met Opera oboist and tenured professor at Indiana University/also Adjunct professor at Juilliard recently tried them during her guest teaching visit to NEC and has ordered one. They have to be speciality ordered from Loree, and range about 8000-8500. Ferrillo is excellent with tuning the instruments very carefully, and then leaves it to John Symer to do some finishing touches for tuning on them. They are very careful to do tuning very incrementally and gradually, as you do not want to make the tone holes too unnecessarily big, which takes away some of that healthy resistance and gatheredness of tone these instruments are so beautifully crafted to have. The copies are exquisitely consistent, and the new AKs are as well. It might be a good time to be on a Loree, and that couldn't necessarily always be said in recent years.
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Author: tgenns
Date: 2018-08-20 21:41
philadelphiaoboe – Thanks for your interesting post on the Loree B series oboe. When you say the “original B series” Loree oboe, are you referring to the standard model, the de Lancie model, or both? As an original owner of a standard model B series Loree oboe (BQ), I am curious as to how this oboe is viewed compared to other Lorees. I currently play a Loree C series oboe (CZ), of which I am the original owner, but I am planning on playing the BQ oboe some in the future.
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