Author: DressedToKill
Date: 2006-11-07 18:30
Well, a crack isn't exactly the kiss of death. Most all cracks are easily fixable and you can continue to play for years and years on a (properly fixed) cracked instrument.
Rosewood is actually much MORE likely to crack than grenadilla, as it is quite a bit less dense and therefore more susceptible to fluctuations in dimension due to moisture content and temperature.
People do seem to think that rosewood is less edgy (or does not project as well), but I think that's poo. I have had no trouble being heard, even last night in a symphonic wind ensemble of 75, and my personal ideal of an oboe sound is one that is very smooth, round, and dark (Elaine Douvas/Hansjorg Schellenberger are my two current Sound Deities), so that's the sound I tend to (try to) produce on ANY instrument I play, wood species nonwithstanding.
My personal feeling is that the reed/player combo is what defines your sound...the wood just holds the air column, it doesn't vibrate nearly enough to affect the sound. (In the way that a piano/harp/string instrument's soundboard does) The difference in sound between reeds on the same oboe, to me, is FAR more noticeable than the difference between two oboes with the same reed/player.
Par example...I am currently working on the Fauré "Piece for Oboe and Harp", (most GORGEOUS. PIECE. EVER.), and I made a little test recording last night, and I actually had to just sit down and replay it, because I don't think I have ever sounded like that...it was creamy, dark, and almost clarinet-like.
Today, I made a recording of same, with another reed, and I sounded like I was playing a damned shawm.
(That reed was promptly wall-tested, btw...)
But, as with all things, YMMV :-)
Post Edited (2006-11-07 19:22)
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