An Oboe Thread

[LKB]

Some time ago, a member suggested that perhaps l should start " an oboe thread ".

Ta-daaah! 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

So, are you asking for favorite works?  Or composing works for oboe?  Or playing tips/advice?  Or how many people enjoy works for the oboe (which should involve a poll)?  You're in the "Composing and Performing" section.....

As for myself, I do love the oboe. 

PD

[Luke]

Never written for solo oboe. But then I haven't written for anything much at all for a long time! But it's a glorious instrument, and its character quite suits my natural style, so maybe one day...

[LKB]

Since I've started it, a little background...

I played the oboe from 1976 until around 1996, when I had to stop due to some pain I began to experience.

During that twenty or so years, I was fortunate to be principal in collegiate orchestras and symphonic wind ensembles, and I scared up a few paying gigs in the opera pit, churches etc. along the way. ( A full-time professional career was never in the cards, I am largely self-taught and the holes in my technique are rather prominent. I'm also lazy as hell, and have never set knife to cane; all the reeds I ever played on were either gifted or purchased. )

I enjoyed playing immensely, particularly the solos which showcased the wonderfully expressive bel canto qualities which are unique to the instrument. Polovtsian Dances, that sort of thing.

Over the years I have admired the playing of Lothar Koch, Heinz Holliger, Pierre Pierlot, Ray Still, the Gombergs and my current favorite, Jonathan Kelly.

So that's me in a nutshell. I'd like to know about about your favorite players, solos, recordings etc.   

[Spotted Horses]

I love the sound of the oboe. I distinctly remember being greatly impressed by recordings by Jürg Schaeftlein, the principal oboe of Nikolaus Harnoncourt's Concentus Musicus Wien, specifically the oboe solo in the aria "Ich Will Bei Meinem Jesu Wachen." The reedy sound of 18th century oboes is more attractive to me than the sound of the modern oboe.

[Herman]

The oboe, with its echoes of an older world, is a beautiful instrument.

The Poulenc sonata is the ultimate oboe piece for me. But there is also a lot of beautiful oboe writing in Ravel's L'enfant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwmHMhdJb94

[DavidW]

I really love the oboe glissando in Mahler's third.  It is rare to hear it in recordings because it is impossible to play on a modern oboe, and it was written for a Viennese oboe of the time.  If interested, check out this article:

https://www.fugato.com/pickett/mahler3-4.shtml

I think that also demonstrates the importance period instruments can have even in more recent music.

[VonStupp]

I never really had an appreciation for the oboe until I heard Lothar Koch, the principal oboe in Berlin during HvK's years. He really made that instrument sound like pure heaven, and is one (of many) reasons I look forward to Karajan recordings.

Oboe is also handy if you need a duck sound!
VS

[LKB]

I never really had an appreciation for the oboe until I heard Lothar Koch, the principal oboe in Berlin during HvK's years. He really made that instrument sound like pure heaven, and is one (of many) reasons I look forward to Karajan recordings.

Oboe is also handy if you need a duck sound!
VS

It was Lothar Koch who really caught my attention as well. His playing on von Karajan's recordings was the major motivating factor in my taking up the instrument, and l initially modeled my playing on what l thought he was doing ( having no teacher, l needed this sort of inspiration ).

Many or most American students back then disliked the German sound, and whenever l related my infatuation with Koch's playing they were truly shocked. But l was somewhat antisocial in those days, and it really didn't bother me much.

I think Koch's best years with the BPO ( at least on recordings ) were from the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's. His recording of the Strauss concerto is still my favorite, and his playing in the first von Karajan Brahms cycle is nearly unearthly in places, almost beautiful beyond belief in the Third Symphony.

As an aside, my handle here stands for " Lothar Koch's Boy ". 

[Karl Henning]

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It was Lothar Koch who really caught my attention as well. His playing on von Karajan's recordings was the major motivating factor in my taking up the instrument, and l initially modeled my playing on what l thought he was doing ( having no teacher, l needed this sort of inspiration ).

Many or most American students back then disliked the German sound, and whenever l related my infatuation with Koch's playing they were truly shocked. But l was somewhat antisocial in those days, and it really didn't bother me much.

I think Koch's best years with the BPO ( at least on recordings ) were from the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's. His recording of the Strauss concerto is still my favorite, and his playing in the first von Karajan Brahms cycle is nearly unearthly in places, almost beautiful beyond belief in the Third Symphony.

As an aside, my handle here stands for " Lothar Koch's Boy ". 

How would you describe the "German sound back then" vs.??

PD

[LKB]

How would you describe the "German sound back then" vs.??

PD

Finally circling back here after an unintended interval...

In answering PD's question, l think that l should have worded that paragraph differently. I wasn't trying to suggest that the German oboe style has changed, l don't think that's the case.

What l meant was that back in those years, the brighter tone of Koch and other prominent Germans was unacceptable to most non-German oboists. There were specific national styles ( an orchestra's nationality could be identified by the sound of its oboes ), and to a certain extent there still are.

That being said, over the last thirty to forty years that brighter, singing German tone has found its way into some of the major orchestras of both England and France. I first noticed it in recordings of the LPO made with Tennstedt in the 1980's, and in French orchestral performances in recent years.

I should also mention that the American orchestras have remained largely unaffected, with the vast majority of American oboists playing with the same dark, woody quality as was being taught fifty years ago.

( Unfortunately, the American tradition of emphasizing technical command at the expense of musicality has also continued. )

[LKB]

I thought I'd drop some links to some of my favorite bits from various media. Perhaps some will be familiar to some of you, but I'm betting most will not be...

I'll include timings for the YouTube links so folks can skip right to the juicy oboe goodness. 

From the 1950's Victory at Sea score, specifically the track entitled " The Turkey Shoot ". This is a short solo featuring some of the most gorgeous playing I've ever heard, probably an American player taught in the French style, at 1'27":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3QhVYkRvQ&list=OLAK5uy_ntIS30n77m2PukprYBauU_DY7PV96kVeU&index=8

My main inspiration for taking up the oboe, Lothar Koch, does a typically excellent job with the solo from the third movement of Brahms' Third Symphony at 21'27":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaItCES17AY&t=37s

Herr Koch again, in the final movement from Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. 39'22" is a few seconds before his solo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQYKcih8OQg

In Johann Strauss II's " Der Zigeunerbaron " overture, I think this is Koch's traditional wingman in the Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Steins, at 1'30":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGs-5PVStOU

As a sendoff for Herr Koch, here's his studio recording of the Strauss concerto:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1_nhc7CKUY

For something more recent, here's my man Jonathan Kelly opening the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKfgSYvbohY&t=65s

That'll do for now. I'm going to try and find something special with Holliger, for a more modern sampling. Expect that soon-ish. 

[LKB]

Heinz Holliger, making the rest of us feel inadequate:

https://youtu.be/agFBqxEDr6I

[pjme]

I love the oboe and am very fond of Koechlins sonata. I have it in two versions - Lencsés and Stefan Schilli.

I want to mention Belgian Piet Van Bockstal as he really tries to perform unpopular Flemish/Belgian composers.

he can be heard also in
Ahos concerto : https://youtu.be/fv5lFtMrfsk?si=btUdIx-03p5Vrxom
Victor Legley - oboe and strings : https://youtu.be/USSX22LnaBA?si=ejxJqD5SSmmBHbFS
Gabriel Verschraegen' Flemish danses : https://youtu.be/MiurOpg_bLw?si=Zzoats-plLFryhqz
Luc Van Hove: Tryptich (oboe & orchestra) : https://youtu.be/1Z97dpYZTvo?si=BXFcGxczcx1HyKyy
and from the 18th century: Vanhal: https://youtu.be/aHLBMaMhlEs?si=vOBc172bjLFvx7Ho

[pjme]

Although the clarinet has some of the most moving moments in this work, I particularly like the oboe in the first movement,  from ca 09.00 till 11.00 minutes in (timpani, celesta, bassoons, basses...).