Oboe is one of my top three favorite instruments. (Well, actually, my new love of late is the English horn, but I've only started listening for them in the past few years—ever since a friend played a beautiful accompaniment to a soprano part. I don't remember the name of the piece, but it was a lovely soprano/horn duet by Mozart. We certainly didn't have a horn player in any of my high school or college orchestras.)
But after listening to someone play a version of the rondo from Mozart's "dubious" violin concerto K271 transcribed for oboe, I decided I really don't like staccato oboe playing.
I barely recognized the piece.
I don't know why the oboe sounded so. . .abrupt and reedy and foreign, but it did. It was so unlike the straight, clean sound of sustained notes that I associate with an oboe. (Like that opening solo line in Saint Saëns' Bacchanale from "Samson and Delilah", to give you a clichéd example.) But perhaps this oboe=beautiful sustained notes is a bizarre association/bias on my part?
I can't think of any pieces off the top of my head, but surely, I've heard oboe played really really staccato before? And no, I don't mean just staccato as in enunciated eighth notes (e.g. the first movement of Albioni's oboe concerto or Haydn's oboe concerto). The rondo was really really choppy.
viz. (Eighth) note. rest. . . . rest. . . .rest. . . .rest.
note. rest. . . . rest. . . ., etc.
Have I simply tuned out this style of playing in the past because it doesn't sound the way I expect an oboe to sound??
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3 comments:
I've always loved the English Horn solo at the beginning of Berlioz' "Carnival Romain" Overture.
Well, not always. You know, since I got to know it.
Maybe it was just that particular oboist you didn't like? Some players can sound very clipped when they do staccatti, and perhaps that's what bothered you? It certainly shouldn't sound like it's being cut off or anything.
If you like English horn, check out the second movement of the Ravel Piano Concerto. It's one of my favorite pieces to play. (The EH part is toward the end of the movement.)
I wish I could hear the Mozart so I could tell you what it sounds like to me! Oh well!
Hi Opera, (well, opera spelled backwards. . .)
I like the pizzicato/horn interaction when played right (that's the one w/ a cello pizzicatoing in the background, right?), but I haven't heard a recording where it melds quite right. Do you have a particular recording that you like? (Or maybe I need to go hear it live. . ..)
There are some beautiful horn duets in St. Matthew's Passion. :)
Hi Pattyoboe,
Thanks for the listening rec. I'll check that out. As for whether I didn't like the style or the player. . .it's possible I didn't like that particular oboist's style. It was my first time hearing that piece played by oboe. . ..
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