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  4. Oboe d'amore, where's its romantic trip?

  • Oboe d'amore, where's its romantic trip?

    PaoloTP
    PaoloTP

    Hi,

    I'm trying the SE oboe d'amore, while also listening to the official demos. I find the timbre quite reedy, more than with the instruments I listened to in some recording.

    I know there is a deep difference, in the oboe family, between the French and Viennese traditions. Maybe VSL's oboe d'amore is a rarer, and reedier, Viennese instrument?

    Paolo
  • DietzD
    VSL Team
    DietzD
    last edited
    last edited

    Unfortunately there's no entrance for the Oboe d'amore in VSL's Online Academy, so I have to quote Wikipedia: "Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the alto of the oboe family, between the oboe (soprano) and the cor anglais, or English horn (tenor)."

    HTH,

    /Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library
  • PaoloTP
    PaoloTP

    Dietz, that's what surprises me: VSL's oboe d'amore is very assertive (as usual with all the instruments of the house), and very reedy. Oboe d'amore is supposed to be calm and sweeter than oboe. In this case, there is a very oboish reediness, a nasality that I can't hear in recordings where oboe d'amore is used. But this may also depend on the fact that most of the oboe d'amore we can hear are Baroque oboe d'amore, and the one in the VSL collection is a modern one, therefore with a stronger sound.

    Paolo
  • E
    E

    I love this instrument! I use it for a lot of oboe lines that I write. I noticed that you are using the SE version. This may explain why you are experiencing the "reedy" sound. When I began to use this instrument, I got the standard version. I loved it so much that I got the full library as soon as I could. 

    Personally, I find the sound to be very beautiful. This is my first oboe to use. I go to the Wein Oboe next and the French Oboe last.
  • W
    W

    This is very odd.  I always noticed the VSL Oboe d'amor is very mellow and soft sounding, not reedy at all - far less reedy than the others so I don't know why you would hear that.  I agree with esperlad and in fact, this oboe is so velvety and espressivo sounding I've wanted to use it as first oboe even though the French oboe is very beautiful also.