Author: cjwright
Date: 2006-11-26 01:41
Assuming you're talking about the American School of oboe...
Perhaps many folks talk about "Old School" as direct lineage to Tabuteau, or Tabuteau purists. Some "Old School" concepts from Tabuteau might be
1. Graf Gougers and Loree horns only
2. Gouging at .60 in the middle and .45 on the sides
3. A Brighter tone, less "covered" more "ringing" quality (which Mack simply took out the "less covered", but kept a lot of "ring" in the sound)
4. The numbering system to mark dynamic levels, and corresponding inflections.
5. The teaching of inflections as upbows/downbows, as stated on the Tabuteau CD
It seems as though there are probably less than 10 original Tabuteau students out there. With the recent passing of Rapier, Harrison, Lifschey, Mack, de Lancie, and Genovese within the past 6 or so years, the only original Tabuteau students I can name are Daniel Stolper, John Minsker, Louis Rosenblatt, and Joseph Robinson (who only studied with him for like 6 weeks). I know there are probably a couple others, but I too have heard many oboists recently lament over the "passing of an era". Of these four, I've had the honor to study with two of them, both who heavily doctrined me with the numbering system, and the inflections concept. I haven't found so much emphasis from my other teachers on these concepts. (By the way, is Minsker even still alive?)
If you listen to Mr. Mack's 3 crystal records recordings which were made in the 70s/80s, his sound changed DRAMATICALLY to become ridiculously covered, so much that I think he compromised a lot of his ring. Toward the end, his sounds was rather unpleasant to the ear from close up. The core was still there, but it was VERY raspy, often with "buzz" that us oboists usually despise and blame our reeds from. I think he made his reeds because he knew in Severance Hall (Cleveland Orchestra's home) all the extra sound wouldn't be heard from beyond the stage.
Even back in 1980, when the Ledet reed book was published, there's an interesting quote from Gillet (who died that year I believe), stating how he had noticed the shift of a bright, singing oboe sound to that of a "muffled clarinet" sound. Even almost 30 years ago, there seemed to be this shift to a "darker" sound. I guess this would be due to the evolution of other orchestral instruments (namely the brass) and the woodwinds compensation to blend. Gillet went on to state that his tonal concept of oboe was to be related to that of a violin, an oboe d'amour to that of a viola, and an E-Horn to one of a cello.
As for cane, I didn't know it goes beyond its prime, but I've heard some oboists claim it weakens beyond repair. A good person to talk to about this would be Mr. Weber since he knows a lot about selecting from the field. (He accompanied de Lancie on his trips to the cane fields.)
Hope my rambling helps. It might just confuse you.
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