Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2006-11-26 13:40
cjwright wrote:
> 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.
Which is why i do not favour many of the American oboists nowadays because the singing quality is gone once the ringing quality is taken. Darker sound also usually mean harder reeds and less flexibilty and less dynamic and color levels, although the sound could be very rich (as of German school players).
cjwright wrote:
"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."
I remember a thread not long ago when we discussed about the international trend to go darker, everywhere, cjwright's statement describes exactly why above. Vibrato has obviously evolved to a much more relaxed type of sound thanks to Tabueau, but the Dutch and English schools prefers to retain the singing quality of the Stotijin and Goosens tradition. Surprisingly, even the ever hard-headed (in a positive way) French school has also turned darker - evident from Francois Leleux's playing.
http://www.oboistgallery.8m.net/ is still in my opinion the best place to listen to the changes of the international sound concept. In fact i visit the site quite often when i feel like refreshing myself when i 'freeze' musically. It is really enlightening to hear Han De Vries, Leon Goosens, etc.
Howard
Post Edited (2006-11-26 13:42)
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