musical mystery solved

A while ago, I blogged about two pieces of memorabilia I own; a Hank Aaron autographed baseball, and a baton that was used by Arturo Toscanini.  The baseball was bought in a card shop while I was on a concert tour of the South – no big mystery there.  The baton, however, was left to me by my musical mentor, Engelbert Brenner.  Brenner played 2nd oboe in the NYPO during Toscanini’s reign.  This rare piece of classical music history has a hand written date on the shaft: November 24th, 1932.

Recently, the New York Philharmonic has made an extensive, searchable database available to the public on their web site.  I have long wondered what pieces Maestro Toscanini conducted with MY baton.  I now know!

Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major

Intermission

Viotti Concerto No. 22 in A minor for Violin and Orchestra
Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b

Bruckner 4 under Toscanini…. WOW!

caution:new york philharmonic grandchildren at play

Ronald Roseman

I played an out-of-town gig this past weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia.  The other oboist that was hired to play was from the Norfolk area – Kevin Piccini.  Kevin is a great oboist, and a very nice guy.  I didn’t have to hear more than a few notes of his warmup to know that we are from the same ’school’ of oboe playing & philosophy.   He has a big, rich sound, and controls it masterfully.  We discovered that we are both ‘grandchildren’ of the New York Philharmonic’s legendary oboe section under

Engelbert Brenner

Bernstein.  I was a pupil of Engelbert Brenner, and he of Ronald Roseman.  Kevin speaks of his teacher with the same reverence I use to describe my mentor.  When not playing together, we were trading stories & comparing notes.  A 3 hour rehearsal flew by at rocket speed.  The performance was great, and the ‘oboe-ing’ was good & really fun!

Now the kicker – Kevin turns to me right before the lone rehearsal starts and says, “You’re Oboerista, aren’t you.”  I’m humbled and honored that a great oboist discovered and reads this blog.

sliced wrong – or maybe right finally

I play on a Marigaux oboe.  It is not what most American oboists prefer, but I discovered them back in the mid 1980s, and now play on my second of these wonderful instruments.  Oboes haven’t changed much in about 100 years.  The changes to the instrument’s slow evolution have mostly been refinements to the bore, tone holes or the addition of new keys to help facilitate specific note-to-note progressions.

The first real shake-up to the design of the modern oboe has been pioneered by Marigaux.  They have completely re-thought & reingineered the disassembly points to their M2 model.  Instead of the instrument coming

Marigaux M2

apart between the top & bottom hand keys, the majority of the oboe has been redesigned to be a solid, continuous piece of wood.  Gone are the 3 critical linkage points which control the D trill, the Bb controls & the often-persnickety bridge mechanism of the F# – G# linkage.  Oboists often peek at the linkage between top & bottom joints to ensure the alignment is true.  An oboe that has twisted a tiny bit becomes a lesser instrument for the moment, and smooth passages can be distorted to clumsy messes.

The description of the new M2 model is this:

• Head-joints can be easily changed to suit individual needs so that tuning, colour, depth and fluidity of sound are all adjustable
• In extreme climatic conditions a phenol-resin head-joint can be used in place of a wooden one to avoid unnecessary cracks
• The instrument is assembled by aligning the octave key pillar with the plate on the main body of the oboe
• Ergonomically improved Bb, B and Eb keys
• Improved positioning of G and G sharp keys, thanks to the removal of the middle joint ring
• Long F key is height-adjustable
• New positioning of the half-hole gives better tuning on D’s and Db’s and improved performance on top octave D’s to Eb’s

I love my “old school” Marigaux, and can’t wait to try an M2 model.  My reeds have drawn stares from fellow oboists for years – imagine the glares this would draw!

Marigaux M2 in its special case

Well, I could dream, couldn’t I?

freelance classical musician scenario – the mystery studio gig

Sometimes I get calls to play in a recording studio.  Sometimes it’s a symphony orchestra, concert band, commercial jingles, and sometimes its a surprise awaiting me as I walk into the studio.  On one occasion, the large studio was completely empty except for a chair, music stand, headphones & a microphone.  I placed the headphones on my head & listened to the pre-recorded tracks.  A second pass was to try and fit my part to the existing tracks.  The third pass was the actual take, but sometimes the 1st run-through was secretly recorded too, allowing for additional material at hand in the editing process. I played both oboe & English horn on this session – overdubbed, of course.

The music was contemporary religious music. 
THESE CUTS DO NOT REFLECT MY RELIGIOUS VIEWS IN ANY WAY.
That being stated, here are some cuts from that day’s recording session.

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

freelance classical musician scenario – the church gig

As a freelance classical musician, I get calls to play in a huge variety of musical venues.  Living in Virginia (yes, this IS the south, technically), the demand for liturgical music is big.  Here is a sound clip from a live performance of John Rutter’s Requiem in which I played the oboe obligato to a mixed choir.

sound bytes

OK.  I’m an oboist, but there are no sound bytes on this blog.  I found some clips from old recording sessions that I have tossed together into a single mp3 file.  The clips are both orchestra & wind ensemble excerpts.  If this works (technically), I’ll post more audio in the future.  Enjoy.

rehearsing together

David & Emma wait for their rehearsal

It was a first for us.  I perform frequently, and have done so professionally for over 35 years.  Nearly all performances require rehearsing.  This past weekend, Kathy’s niece Allsion got married – and I was asked to perform at the ceremony.

Emma rehearses

OK, so there’s nothing unusual so far, but the unique thing about the rehearsal for the wedding music was that Emma was with me.  In addition to my musical support to the wedding ceremony, Emma was asked to come to the pulpit & read a passage.  Emma was poised, polished and read her words with clarity & meaning.

BRAVO, EMMA!

“mr. gorbachov, tear down this reed” (reagan era cane)

Back in the early 1980’s, I received a few not-so-good batches of oboe tube cane. When beginning the processing of this cane, I remember that much of the cane was not straight. When splitting the cane, the splitter twisted with the naturally crooked grain of the wood, leaving much of the cane unusable for oboe reeds. The pieces that did prove to be straight were rather hard, making every step from splitting, gouging, shaping & ultimately playing on the cane laborious. I remembered hearing that some cane, if put away for a number of years, will ’season’ and become more usable. Unhappy with the 1980’s results, I packed it away in a box, virtually forgot about the whole thing, moved a few times, & retired from my full-time oboe job with the US Navy Band (Washington, DC).

Fast forward to 2008.

“Hey – here’s a box of cane!” I began processing some of this ‘antique’ cane last week. No amount of time will make crooked grain straight in a piece of cane. I had to discard a lot of non-straight pieces. The cane generally felt ‘normal’ under the gouger blade. I made a few reeds in preparation for my performance in Philadelphia (of 3 Yiddish folk songs for voice, oboe & piano – on Laurent Levy’s recital). The cane was not ideal, but it has certainly aged and become more usable over the last 20+ years. It’s way too early to know how well (or not well) the cane will serve me, but it’s certainly interesting to see how cane I couldn’t work with 20 years ago has resurfaced & is given a second chance.

reed string rainbow

Back in 1981, I picked up a sturdy used wooden chair to serve at my reed-making desk. It was the start of my 15 year career as principal oboist of the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, DC. Playing was constant and frequently grueling (routinely 2+ hour long concerts, and sometimes more than 1 per day while touring). Reed making was a constant. When in college, I used the same chair for those 4 years, and never removed the reed string tied to the chair’s back for reed tying. After 4 years of school, I accumulated quite a clump of string. This current clump of knots represents just about every reed I have made for the last 27 years! The thickness of the string collection is not evident by this photo, as the knots stretch from the top of the rung to a position well below the layers of draped threads.

famous oboists sell stuff!

Fellow oboist Cooper Wright was shocked to find legendary oboist Alex Klein (formerly of the Chicago Symphony) featured in a Geico television commercial. His appearance had nothing to do with his musical notoriety, and does not mention his vocation at all.

This isn’t a new thing for oboists to do, apparently. Check out this magazine ad that was sent to me by the late oboist Engelbert Brenner’s grandson. WOW!