Ames, Iowa is a city of about 50,000 located 30 miles north of Des Moines. It is the home of Iowa State University. Ten years ago the Ames International Orchestra Festival was established here. Each year the Festival brings in one or two of the world's greatest orchestras for a series of three or four concerts. In a town the size of Ames, this is an important event, but not just for the audiences; the orchestras usually enjoy it as well as it is generally the only place on their tours where they stay put for a few days. The musicians are treated to receptions and tours, as well as being guests for dinner in private homes.
The Dresden State Orchestra is the most recent participant in the Ames Festival, having played here on November 2, 3, and 4, 1979. Hearing this magnificent orchestra was a treat I will never forget. It is unfortunate that political boundaries have isolated most of us in America from knowing more about this orchestra from East Germany.
While at times, matters of personal taste may prevent one from fully enjoying an orchestra from another country, the quality of the Dresden State Orchestra cannot be denied. The blend of all the sections of the orchestra is simply incredible. It is as if the ensemble contains all the instruments of the orchestra as well as all the possible shades in between them. To list but a few examples: 1. Flute and oboe playing together sounded like another instrument. The individual sounds of the flute and oboe could not be separated from the blend of the two together. 2. The bassoons sounded like bassoons, the horns sounded like horns, but sometimes each of these sounded like something in between the two. 3. The principal horn (please forgive the lack of names as they were not listed in the program!) has got to be the prime example of the role of this instrument as both a woodwind and a brass. His smoothness over the awkward skips of Ein Heldenleben could be matched by few performers on any instrument. 4. The brass section as a whole could hold its own, yet was capable of blending with the orchestra in such a way that one must believe that all brass instruments are capable of the dual role generally associated only with the horn.
Two factors are extremely important in creating the blend in this orchestra. The first is intonation. Any problems in this area would have quickly destroyed the sound. It is obvious that these musicians cooperate fully on this matter. The second is the use of vibrato. Solo passages were played with a much more pronounced vibrato than we are used to in this country. (This was true of all the woodwinds and brasses with the exception of the clarinet. Not usually a lover of clarinet vibrato, I nevertheless missed vibrato on this instrument in the context of this orchestra.) I found this vibrato quite acceptable and actually began to crave it because it made all the instruments SING. This soloistic vibrato could easily have destroyed the ensemble, but there was no danger in that since it was toned down in ensemble passages.
I was fortunate in being able to have a brief visit with three of the Dresden oboists and thus was able to learn a little about their instruments, reeds and playing style. Conveniently for me, Kurt Mahn, one of the co-principal players, spoke excellent English.
These players use Moennig instruments which are significantly shorter than a Loree. These oboes are, of course, heavier in playing quality than the French oboes which dominate in this country. When played with my reed, the Moennig almost seemed to blow back at me! I felt that the sound was full and resonant even though my reed was too resistant to make a loud sound. (I would say my reeds are on the easy side of average for American players.)
It would have been interesting to try a Gordet along with these instruments, since the heaviness of the Gordet is in some ways similar to the Moennig.
The Moennigs are Conservatoire system but with several modifications. Both plateau and ring models are used. The Dresden oboists use the automatic octave key system which American players have avoided largely due to the possible problems of the delicate mechanism. I mentioned this to Mahn and he indicated this system did not give any problems. (However, he was having trouble with the octave key pads sticking. On the semi-automatic system we use in this country, the potential of this problem is less severe since one of the two keys is opened by direct leverage rather than a spring.) The Moennig instruments also have a third octave key which is operated by the thumb independently of the automatic system. This key may be used for high notes but it is used specifically on e2 (4th space). Its hole is lower than the normal lower octave key so it is closer to the correct position for this note. The regular octave key on the Moennig makes the e2 quite airy. The extra octave key seems to be one workable solution to the problems of pitch and stability often encountered on this note.
The regular f key also operates a small resonance key which opens with the f. These instruments have both a forked f resonance key, and a left-hand f. In addition, they-have a roller on the f key which facilitates sliding from d to f.
The low b and b-flat keys automatically close the c key, thus not requiring the use of the right little finger. While obviously helpful for some tricky passages, this linkage makes the low b key unusable as a stabilizer for the notes just above the staff. Unlike Gordets with this linkage, these oboes do not have a long adjusting screw that can be backed out to negate the effect of the linkage.
The reeds used by the Dresden oboists appear similar to the French style to an American observer, but this is an oversimplification and might be considered an insult by the Germans. The reed given me by Wolfgang Holzhouser shows a shadow when held up to a light that indicates these reeds are very meticulously made and are not a simple tapering toward the tip. In the middle of the tip is a dark shadow which increases in width until it flares out to the edges:
This reed is quite free and easy as one would expect to use on a heavier instrument. The tube is 46mm and is almost round at the top, the gouge is .55, the length of the blank is 71 being trimmed to a finished length of 70. The players in Dresden have difficulty in getting good cane. Most of what they use comes from Spain but occasionally they get French cane through West Germany.
The Dresden Orchestra plays at A=444. This raises some interesting questions, considering the fact that the entire orchestra achieves a big, full sound that some American players believe can only be achieved by keeping the pitch as low as possible. I do not know how the instruments might differ to achieve this higher pitch. I tend to think the main difference is in reeds and manners of playing in spite of the fact that, as mentioned earlier, the Moennig is considerably shorter than a Lorée. I base this conclusion on a very simple experiment I did using Holzhouser's reed in my Lorée. I simply played with a tighter embouchure and more reed in my mouth than I normally do (see the article on different styles of playing by Allan Vogel in the 1978 IDRS Journal), let the pitch settle in where it seemed to center itself, and then looked at the Korg tuner which read precisely A=444! Another interesting thing I discovered was that with this adjustment of reed and embouchure, vibrato automatically simulated the more pronounced German style. If I play this reed with my normal embouchure the pitch is around 440, but it does not feel right.
Not wanting to miss a chance to play with the Dresden players, I talked the three of them into reading part of a Boismortier Concerto for five instruments with one of my students and myself. They were hesitant because of the expected pitch discrepancies. Without saying anything about it, we managed to squeeze the pitch (uncomfortably) up to their pitch. When we stopped they asked us how the pitch was for us because it was the level they were used to. A=440 and A=444 seem as though they would be worlds apart. Yet we were all surprised at how close they are. The Dresden players could not believe the A-bar was 440 because it was relatively close to their pitch. The Korg tuner showed that their pitch was in fact 444. They were surprised that we could make the adjustment to their pitch as their more firm embouchures do not promote this change, although their more flexible reeds would make it possible.
I have enjoyed contacts made with double reed colleagues as they participate in the Ames Festival. I hope we can encourage more involvement in the IDRS by musicians outside the U.S.A. I am sending IDRS material to Kurt Mahn in the hope that the Dresden musicians may join us. We all are struggling with the same problems; we may differ in the sound that we hold ideal, but it is informative to see the many different ways of solving common problems and making our instruments work. For instance, would you believe a 42mm tube? Anyone who knows anything about acoustics can tell you the same oboe cannot be made to work with both 44mm and 47mm tubes. False! Werner Herbers of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra gave me one of his reeds made on a 42mm tube, with a total length of 66 mm. He uses this type of reed in a Lorée to play at the orchestra's pitch of A=441 1/2. I was able to play his reed and he was able to play mine, though of course we had to adjust our playing and the sound was not what we were used to. This is but one more example of the kind of information that we can be learning from one another.