Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-07-06 22:50
Wow, Chris --
You do cover the waterfront with your choices, there! Heinz Holliger and Leon Goosens on the same list!
But I know what you mean. You like each one for a different quality, and each, in his own terms, is an excellent artist.
My favorite on your list is Gordon Hunt. In fact, I am finding myself very drawn to the Brits that I have heard.
I have also heard some Elaine Douvas that is just "to die for", and Joe Robinson is no slouch, either.
David S. --
My teacher (who is of the John Mack lineage) concurs in the idea that there is no "correct" oboe sound -- only a well-played oboe sound. There are "darker" and "lighter", or perhaps "heavier" and "lighter" sounds within any given school of oboe playing. Some styles allow for, or emphasize, a sort of buzziness or graininess to the tone (which I like, to an extent), while other schools -- the American would fall into this -- emphasize smoothness, roundness, sweetness of tone.
I'm not sure yet how to rank the components of technique which create whichever sound. I believe that the design of the instrument plays a significant part in a player's sound, as does the construction of the reed, as well as the player's embouchure, oral and nasal cavities, pharynx, and general bone structure.
To that end, I agree with whomever it was who wrote on a thread here not too long ago that no matter the oboe or the reed, a player generally ends up sounding like him- or herself. And according to my teacher, as long as you've got the embouchure and breath under control, that's perfectly all right -- that it's actually true that it's OK, or even inevitable, for every oboist to sound a little different. Vive le difference!
Susan
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
