Which oboe?

I’m amazed that this little self-glorifying blog would attract over 1000 visitors from a dozen countries in less than a month… WOW, thanks people!… yes, I did exclude my own visits! For sure a lot of it is due to my wife’s photographs of the reed cases (her flickr here): easily the most popular post (click here).

I’ve been receiving e-mails directly with comments and questions: I really like these because it jogs my ideas. It gets me to organize what to write.

For example, in a previous post [Back to my (blog) roots!] I mentioned being enchanted by the oboe d’amore and also my appreciation for Ludwig Frank and the Gebrüder Mönning manufacture. Well, this started a really good e-mail exchange with one reader who gave me very encouraging information about both the instruments and how they care for their customers.

Funny thing is, I never played a Frank or Mönning nor have I ever so much as touched a d’amore! I have only owned the same Lorée oboe for 25 years. I have played some Yamahas, many Lorées, a Selmer or two and some (Lorée) English Horns, but apart from the under $300 beginner-model 1921 Pan-American I got from E-Bay last spring to practice in my truck at lunch time, my good old Lorée is it!

Who can argue with sound?

The first few times I heard Albrecht Mayer on Internet Streaming radio, I thought: “Hmm, half decent sound for a baroque oboe.”  but then I discovered he plays on modern instruments!…. I mean, talk about being happily surprized! Then I started searching him on You-Tube and found some of his clips playing the d’amore: pure extacy!

Listen, Albrecht Mayer is not the only fantastic player… more for another post. But his productions really do open a lot of doors. More on this notion later… Thanks again for reading and please continue with the e-mails. But don’t be shy to leave a comment either!

Cheers!

Thank Heavens for Inspiration!

Yesterday, my condition of fibromyalgia had gotten the best of me – and in turn, everything went wrong when playing the oboe – and I had prepared a blog posting that might have been uselessly depressive. But, lo and behold, Providence kicked-in once again and furnished me with the inspiration to again set sail for sunny shores!

I was reminded of a tune I had played in 1992 (or 1993?) as solo oboe with the McGill Wind Symphony. This was a student production, naturally, but nonetheless it was really the crowning glory of my performing life. The tune is little known, unless you’re a big fan of ABBA, and I had kept the solo sheet music. Though searching Google and Wikipedia for the composer yielded nothing useful at all, some You-Tube postings were enough to get my muses flying once again!

No, I won’t say who the composer is nor what the tune is: I will use it as my 1st You-Tube recording! I can’t get the score for it, but the harmonization is easy enough, so I’ll make a MIDI file and, hopefully, get my Yamaha Clavinova to accompany ($%@&! Windows drivers) as I bring it out of the dusty closet at last!

This will take a few weeks to do. But it shows that the call to music remains stronger than the woes of life and when things look dark, Providence lights a candle! When you hear this piece, as long as I do it credit, I think you’ll agree its power to inspire is strong and deeply touches the soul.