Many concerts - countless airplane trips - innumerable lessons - hours at the reed desk - all these have transpired since our last communication. The spring was busy with more travels by our Richards Wind Quintet - also recording sessions for two discs for Peter Christ's Crystal label. My friends Laila Storch and Jim Caldwell had both passed along friendly advice on the hazards of recording the oboe in the wind quintet--if anything, they understated the problems! At any rate I hope you'll enjoy the three Peter Mueller quintets which should be available now; they're music of considerable charm and fill out the scant 18th-19th century literature for quintet. Though they owe a real debt to Reicha, they're far more concise than most of his creations. On the subject of records, I want to mention Paula Robison's brilliant performances of the twelve fantasias for solo flute of Telemann on Musical Heritage Society No. 3046. More and more oboists are discovering these masterpieces as vehicles for teaching and performance both, and Miss Robison's playing can serve as a real model for creativity in ornaments, articulation, and rhythmic vitality. The music is published by Barenreiter.
The Interlochen summer was again a wonderful interlude the only eight-week period of the year in which the pace slows down a bit (from the constant travel anyway) - and what more beautiful atmosphere for relaxation than northern Michigan? Both Laura Jaeger, my oboist colleague (from London, Ontario), and I were very impressed with the quality of playing from young teen-agers from all around the country - and we had oboe students from as far away as Quito and Paris as well! There were performances too - I again did the Loeffler Rhapsodies (something of a cheval de bataille for me) with Frank Bundra, violist, and Cary Lewis, pianist - and for the first time, the oboe d'amore obligatos in Bach's Phoebus and Pan, beautiful but fatiguing and unusual in range (a written high "E" in one spot).
I was able to get away from Interlochen for just one day to attend the IDRS conference in Toronto - much too short a visit, but long enough to sense that things were in extremely skilled hands with Chris Weait's meticulous attention to so many details. I enjoyed seeing several former colleagues some after too many years - including Cathy Dufford Paulu (now of Madison but for many years the first oboist of the Oklahoma City Symphony); Dayna Fisher of Edmonton whose violinist husband made some marvelous photographs of us when we played there a few seasons back; Peggy Rivenburg of Columbus, who played beside me in the Eastman Chamber Orchestra; and Helen Erb who played English Horn while I was first oboe in the New Orleans Philharmonic - Helen still plays there and still looks like the child prodigy she was ten years ago! It was good to meet Pat McFarland of Atlanta too. He kindly sent me a new Cabart oboe to try through the summer and I was most impressed with it. The mark of the Loree quality is unmistakable in the design and it seems like an ideal instrument for the young player.
Because of my tight schedule I had to miss so much, but I did feel an enthusiasm and camaraderie that was most encouraging. I particularly regretted missing the various performances, and I must thank John Corina of Athens, Georgia for performing the Aleph I of Tom Cox (a winning entry in the composition contest) when I was prevented from performing it. Evelyn Barbirolli's participation in the conference meant so much to the membership, and I can't resist reproducing William Littler's delightful account of her recital in its entirety.
Thursday, August I9, 1976
BRITISH OBOIST GIVES MUSICALE FOR HER FRIENDS
In these days of women's liberation it's easy to forget how hard it used to be for the fair sex to gain entry into our major symphony orchestras. Back in 1933, when Evelyn Rothwell became principal oboe of the Scottish National Orchestra, monocles dropped from startled male eyes across the length and breadth of Britain.
No doubt something similar happened when Maxine Schimer became the first woman woodwind player in the Toronto Symphony not to mention the first woman bassoonist in Canada. By no means coincidentally, both women turned up at Walter Hall last night as participants in the fifth annual meeting of the International Double Reed Society, Mrs. Schimer as a member of the audience from New Jersey and Miss Rothwell as the evening's featured soloist.
Miss Rothwell isn't miss anymore, of course. The conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra having taken a fancy to more than her oboe playing, she eventually became Lady Barbirolli, as well as one of the most celebrated wind players of her generation.
PLAYS BETTER THAN ANYONE
She must have been something very special in those early days, to go so far amid so many mustaches. Even today, in her mid-60s, she plays better than anyone of her age has a right to play. Rumor has it that oboists either blow out their brains or lose their breath long before it's time to collect a pension cheque. Watch the way some of them play, with cheeks puffed out and faces beet red, and you can understand how clarinetists and bassoonists get away with spreading this rumor.
Well, Evelyn Barbirolli may no longer breathe in the same league as a Heinz Holliger, but once she had warmed up via sonatas by Telemann and JCF Bach, the lady produced tone enough to sing her bel canto way through a sonata by Donizetti.
Singing is very much an oboist's business and composers usually exploit this fact when they aren't trying to show off the instrument's agility in high hurdles. Michael Head, an English composer who has made a specialty of song writing, seems to be particularly sympathetic to the singing oboe if Siciliana For Oboe And Harpsichord and Elegaic Dance and Presto typify his work. Lady Barbirolli played them to a turn.
These pieces also demonstrated how skillful she is at adjusting her tone to different styles and periods of music. The full-blown romantic tone she brought to Head was kept under wraps in a couple of songs by Mozart, and was made positively piping in Dandrieu's Les Fifres.
MUCH PERSONAL CHARM
As these titles suggest, Lady Barbirolli's recital was scarcely burdened with masterpieces. It was more of an informal musicale for friends, introduced with much personal charm and supported by pianist-harpsichordist Nancy Antonacci and cellist Margaret Barstow.
But then, she was definitely among friends. Some 170 people from North America and Europe gathered for the International Double Reed Society meeting, and after three days of activities, involving 10 concerts by 11 oboes, three English horns, 21 bassoons, a couple of contra-bassoons and a variety of other instruments, the only alternative to friendship was a screaming exit in the direction of the nearest string quartet.
Lady Barbirolli and I were able to have lunch together in Toronto to plan her various Michigan appearances (just past, incidentally) . . . but before them, I was able to squeeze in a quick trip to France and England - a much-needed holiday before another busy season. The deGourdons were as hospitable as ever and we had a most pleasant day together in Paris, only marred by the sad news of Al Laubin's death. We'll all miss this great genius of oboe-building and repair and a fitting obituary will appear in a later issue . . . members who care to pass along tributes to be printed in these pages are encouraged to do so, and meanwhile I'm sure the whole society joins me in extending his family sincerest sympathy in their loss.
I heard a charming chamber concert in London - the London Virtuosi featuring Anthony Camden, one of the first oboists of the London Symphony Orchestra - in the Mozart and Britten quartets with a movement of a Krommer-Kramar quartet and the Suck trio as encores. Anthony is an exciting player and an energetic young man, full of interesting ideas. He and Maurice Bourgue, the brilliant first oboist of the Orchestre de Paris, have many joint projects in process, including trading off some of their teaching as well as double concerti and chamber music work.
Evelyn Barbirolli brought her own unique artistry here just this month with three chamber concerts in Michigan - Midland, East Lansing, and Interlochen - and also performed the Hummel Introduction, Theme, and Variations and the Francaix L'Horloge de Flore with the Midland Symphony. We did a rather ambitious trio program in Midland, with works of Johann Wenth, as well as some arrangements of Australian folk songs done with great skill and charm by Graham Powning (oboist of the Sydney Symphony) - also his variations on Waltzing Matilda! Your editor was drafted into the first oboe slot and Don Jaeger somehow manages to maintain his English horn-playing form in the midst of a terribly demanding administrative and conducting schedule. (A historical note: Johann Wenth (1745-1801) was a Bohemian oboist whose works for wind instruments encouraged Mozart to entrust him with arranging his works for winds. Wenth's "Terzetto - performed by the brothers John, Franz, and Philipp Teimer on December 23, 1793 for the Vienna Tonkunstlersocietat gave Beethoven the idea for the famous Op. 87 Trio" according to Thayer's Beethoven biography. The Wenth trio works are published by Knuesslin of Basel.) Lady Evelyn's recitals mostly embodied the same literature as her Toronto recital, and I found the JCF Bach sonata, with its harpsichord recitative sections, and the Michael Head Siciliana (with harpsichord) particularly lovely works. In these recitals, she was assisted by Byron Hanson at the keyboard. In the midst of all this performing Lady Evelyn found time to do master classes - one in Ann Arbor with students of Arno Mariotti, and then with my pupils both in East Lansing and at the Interlochen Arts Academy. The young people were impressed with her unflagging energy and commitment to musical values, and of course her enthusiasm for the oboe in its every aspect, and audiences responded unfailingly to her engaging platform manner. These events brought together a great many Michigan oboists - pleasant reunions for many of us - including Arno Mariotti of the University of Michigan, Roger Rehm of Central Michigan University at Mt. Pleasant; Grace George of the West Shore Symphony of Muskegon; Jeanne Aaronson of the Flint Institute of Music; Gail Warnaar of Hope College at Holland; Robert Humiston of Western Michigan University and the Kalamazoo Symphony; and Nancy Brammer and Mary Olin of the Northwestern Michigan Symphony of Traverse City - not to mention outlandish numbers of eager young students! Incidentally, it was interesting to hear another live performance of the Francaix and I was again struck with the beauty of the slow tranquil sections; the overall success of the piece depends on virtuoso principal winds in the orchestra I thought, and careful pacing by the conductor - Don Jaeger in this Midland Symphony performance.
Before Lady Evelyn had to depart for yet more concerts in Houston and Baton Rouge, we found a few minutes to try oboes and reeds and she pronounced herself immensely impressed with my Lorees. She draws a lovely intimate sound from her 50-some-year-old Moennig, but perhaps she will decide to add a Loree to her collection one day! I already look forward to another visit with this great lady of the oboe.
This issue also includes a clever account of the immensely successful "John Mack Oboe Camp." I so regretted that other commitments made it impossible for me to observe the proceedings myself, and I again tip my hat to Joe Robinson for his organizational genius.
This little journal is receiving notice in far more distinguished ones . . . a recent issue of Notes gives the IDRS publications high marks for their editorial quality and general content, and Philip Bate, in the newest printing (1975) of his The Oboe, refers to TTWO a number of times as an important source of up-to-date information on all aspects of the oboe. Please keep me informed of oboe news from your part of the world. Until the next issue . . . Daniel Stolper, Michigan State University, Department of Music, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 USA.
A postscript: My congratulations to the IDRS officers on their re-election, a vote of confidence in the quality of their stewardship. I was especially pleased that Lowry Riggins has agreed to continue in the position of treasurer, an especially demanding and time-consuming one. Best wishes to them all for another successful term!