Where Are All The Oboists These Days? Options

[flobiano]

I too have a confusion to make. I'm not exactly bowled over by the cor. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) I far prefer the oboe.

I am quite bowled over by the cor. I would love to have one. I still marginally prefer the sound of the oboe but it is a close run thing.

The programme for our next orchestra programme has some cor bits in it, including a solo. One of the other oboists has a cor but is a bit worried about managing the part. She suggested that she could lend her cor to me so I could play it....I am a bit worried that if she does then I won't want to give it back. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I've just bought a CD of cor music (called Cor!) which has whet my appetite. I am thinking it would be a good thank you/ Christmas present for my oboe teacher.

Hope you find a piece to play Kerioboe, the only one I could suggest is the one I played at Staleybridge - the Arioso by Fiocco. The oboe plays semis while the piano is generally crotchets so reasonably straightforward, there are probably other similar baroque pieces though. Hope your concert goes well.
Edit: what about the Marcello Concerto?

Hope you manage to get back to the oboe soon Katica.

[Roseau]

I've just bought a CD of cor music (called Cor!) which has whet my appetite. I am thinking it would be a good thank you/ Christmas present for my oboe teacher.

Thanks for this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I have just ordered one.

Hope you find a piece to play Kerioboe, the only one I could suggest is the one I played at Staleybridge - the Arioso by Fiocco.

In the end, I've decided that I will play some of the Molique. We have cut the Tutti sections right back and stopped the fast movement about a third of the way through before it gets to the hard piano part. There are two lines and two bars which are a bit tricky but not impossible, so I'm hoping the accompanist will have looked at in advance and practised them (or if she hasn't done so before the rehearsal that she will in the week between the rehearsal and the concert). I'll report back next Thursday (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And now I have to decide what I want to play on the cor. My teacher unhelpfully said "anything you like" but cor by itself (ie not a duet with him) so people can hear what it sounds like. I can't decide whether to play an extract from the New World Symphony because it is supposed to be part of an "educational" talk and this is a famous cor solo, with the risk that some people in the audience will know what it is supposed to sound like when played by a professional (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif). Or something out of Rothwell's Bach book which may be less familiar.

[katica]

I've just bought a CD of cor music (called Cor!) which has whet my appetite. I am thinking it would be a good thank you/ Christmas present for my oboe teacher.

Thanks for this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I have just ordered one.

Is that the one on Oboe Classics? A bit expensive to get sent here, unfortunately...

Glad to hear you found a solution with the Molique, kerioboe. I'm sure it will feel better to play something you've been working hard on rather than cobbling something together at the last minute. I hope your accompanist is up to it!

[Roseau]

I've just bought a CD of cor music (called Cor!) which has whet my appetite. I am thinking it would be a good thank you/ Christmas present for my oboe teacher.

Thanks for this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I have just ordered one.

Is that the one on Oboe Classics? A bit expensive to get sent here, unfortunately...

Yes. Could you ask one of your parents to buy it for you as a Christmas present?

Glad to hear you found a solution with the Molique, kerioboe. I'm sure it will feel better to play something you've been working hard on rather than cobbling something together at the last minute. I hope your accompanist is up to it!

Having insisted that I wanted to play the Molique, I know have to hope I do it justice (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) There are a few slightly shaky bars still.

One good thing about looking through my music was that I realised I have improved. I played through the 1st movement of the Saint-Saens on Friday morning as I knew the accompanist had already played it to accompany my teacher (albeit several years ago) and discovered that the "hard" parts of it were not that hard after all (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Arundodonuts]

Is that the one on Oboe Classics? A bit expensive to get sent here, unfortunately...

Yes.

Oh OK that looks pretty good. I will admit I have 2 recordings of Snake already, I enjoyed Celia Craig playing cor (Tiles of the Alhambra) and David Walter playing oboe, amore and cor in his arrangements of Albeniz (or was it Granados?) at IDRS 2009.

I'm probably just trying to avoid wanting one.

[Hardying]

quote "I'm going to make a bit confession here. I know the Swan of Tuonela is often considered the "piece de resistance" on the cor anglais but I don't find it terribly inspiring. Does anyone else feel that way?
(I hope our resident Sibelius fan doesn't come down too hard on"

No problem, as a fan of Thomas Hardy I'm used to having minority tastes! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I personally still think it's a fabuloys piece, and hearing it played with the orchestra providing the shimmering accompaniment, is a nerve tingling experience for me. It helps loving Finland & knowing about the Finnish legends from the Kalevala that much of Sibelius's work, including the Swan is based on.

[quote name='kerioboe' One good thing about looking through my music was that I realised I have improved. I played through the 1st movement of the Saint-Saens on Friday morning as I knew the accompanist had already played it to accompany my teacher (albeit several years ago) and discovered that the "hard" parts of it were not that hard after all (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
[/quote]


It's great & SO encouraging when that happens (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[katica]

quote "I'm going to make a bit confession here. I know the Swan of Tuonela is often considered the "piece de resistance" on the cor anglais but I don't find it terribly inspiring. Does anyone else feel that way?
(I hope our resident Sibelius fan doesn't come down too hard on"

No problem, as a fan of Thomas Hardy I'm used to having minority tastes! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I like both Hardy and Sibelius (usually). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The Swan of Tuonela does need the strings and the context of the piece, as pushpull pointed out too. I think just a couple of time hearing it played very flatly by an amateur (it must be really hard to make those long notes sound beautiful) and with plodding piano background was enough to put me off.

[katica]

flobiano, are you planning to acquire a cor?

[flobiano]

flobiano, are you planning to acquire a cor?

I would like to. My original plan was to get one when I passed Grade 8, but then I decided to upgrade my oboe earlier this year. My revised plan is to get one in 2013 as a 40th birthday present to myself but I think I may succumb to temptation before then! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Arundodonuts]

Well I think it's probably overrated as a showpiece though in the context of the piece as a whole it's OK. I too have a confusion to make. I'm not exactly bowled over by the cor. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) I far prefer the oboe.

I have a confusion to make? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) Did I really write that or was it the pesky spell checker?

kerioboe - I've just been listening to the CD "Oboe Divas" and the William Tell bit for cor shows up. That could be quite a nice demo. It's on IMSLP too:
http://petrucci.mus.auth.gr/imglnks/usimg/...TellOv.Oboe.pdf

[Roseau]

I had an awful rehearsal with the pianist tonight (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) She hadn't even looked at the music and couldn't really play any of it properly. I couldn't sense her pulse but neither did she make any attempt to follow me - either with rubato or with dynamics. The slow movement wasn't brilliant and the fast movement was frankly awful (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) . That was the in my lesson and I was then supposed to have another run through later on with all his other pupils but she managed to mess up even the simple pieces they younger children were playing and everything got so behind that I didn't get to play it again.

My teacher is going to see if he can arrange another rehearsal on Monday evening (not brilliant for me as I'll have been at work all day and I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that the train isn't late) and if she hasn't worked on it by then, he said I should give up any idea of playing it in the concert (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The irony of this is that this is the first time I have actually wanted to play in the concert. (All the previous times I would have been glad of an excuse not to play).

[katyjay]

How infuriating for you, Kerioboe.

An off-the-wall query, but would you be able to play with a recorded accompaniment?

[flobiano]

I had an awful rehearsal with the pianist tonight (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) She hadn't even looked at the music and couldn't really play any of it properly. I couldn't sense her pulse but neither did she make any attempt to follow me - either with rubato or with dynamics. The slow movement wasn't brilliant and the fast movement was frankly awful (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) . That was the in my lesson and I was then supposed to have another run through later on with all his other pupils but she managed to mess up even the simple pieces they younger children were playing and everything got so behind that I didn't get to play it again.

My teacher is going to see if he can arrange another rehearsal on Monday evening (not brilliant for me as I'll have been at work all day and I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that the train isn't late) and if she hasn't worked on it by then, he said I should give up any idea of playing it in the concert (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The irony of this is that this is the first time I have actually wanted to play in the concert. (All the previous times I would have been glad of an excuse not to play).

How frustrating, and not fair at all on you (and other students) who have worked on their pieces. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

Surely this situation can't be ignored if it is impacting so many students now. Are there any other accompanists available?

[Roseau]

An off-the-wall query, but would you be able to play with a recorded accompaniment?

Unfortunately not.

How frustrating, and not fair at all on you (and other students) who have worked on their pieces. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

Surely this situation can't be ignored if it is impacting so many students now. Are there any other accompanists available?

It is a problem that has been going on for years (but has got worse over the last couple of years but I don't want to say why on a public forum even if it is in a different language) and all the teachers know there is a problem but for reasons which I don't fully understand (but are probably partly to do with local politics as it is a municipal music school) the head is reluctant to do anything about it. My teacher (who is not local) thinks she should be sacked for incompetence.

I did ask him if he would accompany me instead but he said he didn't want to out of principal because then the head would just say that he doesn't need an accompanist. I can see his point of view because it is considered normal in French music schools to have a resident accompanist and it is much more rewarding to have the teacher totally free to concentrate on the pupil's playing while someone else does the accompanying. On the other hand he also said he didn't think he could "sacrifice" me again (as he did 18 months ago by letting her ruin my performance) just to prove that she is not up to the job, which is what he did about eighteen months ago in an attempt to make the Head of the music school admit that there was a problem.

He has fixed another rehearsal with her for Monday evening and he is going to see if he can cut out the whole fast movement (but the problem is that because it is a concertino rather than a concerto the Adagio doesn't end with a cadence and sounds odd if you just stop at the end of it so he needs to come up with a way of making it sound finished).

[Hardying]

He has fixed another rehearsal with her for Monday evening and he is going to see if he can cut out the whole fast movement (but the problem is that because it is a concertino rather than a concerto the Adagio doesn't end with a cadence and sounds odd if you just stop at the end of it so he needs to come up with a way of making it sound finished).
[/quote]

Sorry to hear this - having a good accompanist makes a world of difference.
Hope a miracle happens & the situation is satisfactorily solved.