John Minsker

In case you missed this article with John Minsker, it’s a lot of fun to read.

Another Survey

Since my last survey was so successful (a whole 4 people voted), I thought I’d do another survey where people might have more of an opinion on such a topic. It’s an Oboe Tone Preference Survey! Listed below are clips which you can listen to them.

John Mack’s Loeffler/Mozart CD

Joseph Robinson’s New York Legends CD

John de Lancie’s on Strauss Concerto CD

Marilyn Zupnik’s on Handel/Telemann Sonatas CD

Nancy Ambrose King’s on Winning Program CD

Rebecca Henderson’s on …is but a dream CD

I would have included a lot more names, but there is only 8 spots to put answers into. I thought these examples would give a wide variety of tonal colors.

Surely more than 4 people have an opinion about such a topic!?

Evolution of oboe tone

I’ve been thinking a bit about why over the years, there seems to have been desire or demand for the “darkening” and “thickening” of the American oboe tone. Is it because Mack had so much influence over the school of oboe and therefore as a teacher-role was able to dictate “this is how an oboe should sound.” Or is there something about the thick, round, sound that generally speaking a greater number of people simply gravitate towards? Is the preference due to to some “first exposure” effect; for example most people’s first exposure to the oboe include thick European oboe sounds (i.e. Gordon Hunt on Gabriel’s Oboe) or an old Crystal Records recording of John Mack and therefore believe all oboists should sound similar? (John Mack’s recording with the Saint-Saens and Poulenc was my first recording, and thus it was my first tonal concept.)

I often test play my reeds for my wife, an amateur cellist who has a keen ear. Last night I played the peculiar reed I made, and compared it to the reed that I made a week ago and documented all of the steps. I also asked my brother-in-law, a non-musician. Playing them side by side, they both agreed they liked the reed I made a week ago. When asked why, my wife responded, “It’s thinner, but it’s fuller. The other one is bigger and thicker, but not filled in.” I thought this a very interesting description, being as how I would have described Mack’s tone the last time I heard him. She grew up with music around her, particularly hearing German-style oboists. I find it interesting that her preference is now clarity over thickness.

Acoustical differences, CDs, Performance Halls, and projection

Some observations that I’ve been thinking a lot about as I ride the subway and have nothing better to do besides consider cosmic oboe questions.

1. Tabuteau did not sound as “light” and “shrill” as many believe him to be. Listening to his CDs, I believe the lack of lower partials in his sound is due to the crude recording mechanisms available at the time.

2. de Lancie did not sound as “light” and “thin” as many believe him to be. Listening to the Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet 20th century CDs, his sound on many of the pieces, including the Barber, Grainger, and Pierne sound much fuller and different than other recordings. Could this be the effect of microphone placement (i.e. closer microphones?) Also, de Lancie’s recordings must have also been somewhat limited by the recording equipment available during his time. When listening to de Lancie’s recordings, we have to remember that his recordings were a good decade, sometimes even two, before most of the recordings of Mack. Even listening to Mack’s earliest recordings (The earliest I know of is the Marlboro Festival Recording with Brandenburg Concertos 1 and 2 recorded in 1967?; if you know any earlier please do let us know!), you can tell that either his sound changed a LOT between that one and the Crystal Records recordings, or the equipment changed. If you listen to the 2nd movement of Brandenburg 2, notice how clear and pronounced his tone sounds in general.

3. Professional Oboists know their performance halls, and know that the sound they hear up close is clearly different from that heard from far in the seats. I once posted on the oboe Bboard how I saw and heard Mr. Mack in 2001 and that he sounded very glassy, airy, and raspy but when I heard him in Severance Hall, his sound was full and round as ever. (Mark Charette, administrator of the board also commented that Frank Cohen, the principal clarinet of Cleveland also sounds glassy and raspy so this might indeed be the effect of the hall.) That said, I wonder if the Academy of Music was difficult to project in, thus calling for a more brighter or piercing sound. According to the website, it says that the Academy of Music was built as an Opera house and contained 2,900 seats compared to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s current home the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts which houses 2,500 seats. One would have to believe that the Kimmel Center must have the latest in acoustical technology to enhance the quality of sound, a luxury the Academy of Music did not have. One can also imagine that the Academy of Music must have had a high ceiling like most opera halls, thus making it more difficult for woodwind instruments to project clear to the top with clarity. I believe all of these factors contributed to the necessity of a brighter tone as de Lancie projected.

Interesting reed.

Since I’ve been moving and all my stuff is in a bunch of boxes, I haven’t made many reeds this past week. But with Ich Habe Genug coming up (I’m playing with a VERY fine Bass, who certainly has one heck of pipes!) and the Bach G minor Partita, I decided it was time for me to fashion something fresh and big.

Using my Graf #2 (the thicker one), the Rigotti cane I complained about so much a few weeks back, and my RDG 2 tip, I made a very fine reed indeed. At first the machine was gouging at .67 in the middle which is probably due to the move and getting bumped around. But once I adjusted the gouge down to .63, the fold felt right and I felt comfortable to proceed. (I don’t use an easel, but fold the cane over my finger, which tells me a bit more about the gouge, and prevents the cane from “tearing” off of the bark.

Interestingly enough, although I am a big preacher of the Philadelphia style reed, this reed has more “Mackish” qualities to it than I think I’ve ever made. It has that “cover” about it, which I would describe as a “velvet cover” about it, and is very dark and round. In fact, I have to really work hard to get the “brilliance” or resonance that I normally shoot for in the sound. I’ve made other reeds with the same gouge and shape, so either the cane is the difference-maker, or something has changed in my scrape. I did take more out of the heart on the initial scrape as I blogged earlier that I’ve been getting better results when I made this “mistake”. Generally, I scrape the RDG 2 reeds very slow, namely because with wider shapes, if you take too much out off (specifically in the heart or windows), the pitch really sags and the reed is next to lost. I’m anxious to get to try out the reed again today and make necessary adjustments. I’ll take pictures of it later.