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Reviews
DVD REVIEWS
Two DVD’s Detailing Methods of European-style
Oboe-Reed Making
1. by Fabio Croce (60 minutes) €18 plus postage
Available in English, German, Spanish, Italian from:
Fabio Croce
Gochsheimerstrasse, 48
75038 Oberderdingen
West Germany
Tel: 00497258 926400
Email: cornoboe@nexgo.de
Web: http://www.fabiocroce.com/
Fabio Croce is an Italian born oboist who now works in
Germany after studying there with Georg Meerwein at
Karlsruhe Hochschule. In this DVD he demonstrates a
style of reed-making reflecting a standard German
method with a short scrape of 10 mm, thin tip and a
V-shaped hump behind. As with all method explanations,
pictures are much more revealing than words. In this
video every process is painstakingly shown. The
camera work is mainly very good to excellent and only
occasionally does lack of focus intrude in the close up
shots. The pace is very measured and clear with a
commentary in English.
There are interesting ideas promulgated for cane
preparation prior to shaping; for instance soaking damp
cane in a sealed environment for 12 hours, making sure the
dimensions are correct in the gouge by using a scraper and
finishing the inside surface with fine sand paper. Tying on is
very well shown with an old method of wrapping a cut
piece of twine around the forearm (over a towel to prevent
cuts!) in order to gain the necessary tension. The formation
of the scrape is well demonstrated and the finishing
explained in detail. The largest part of this DVD is the
scraping process and how to adjust the almost finished reed
to make it play. The final chapter has Tips and Tricks for
improving the finished reed.
2. by Linda Walsh: The Oboe – Reedmaking (96 minutes)
About £23 plus postage from Australia, on offer at the time
of writing.
Available directly from Linda Walsh at the web site.
Email: info@oboereedmaking.com
Web: http://www.oboereedmaking.com/
The commentary is available in four languages – English,
French, German and Spanish; you choose the appropriate
one at the outset after it loads in your DVD player.
This DVD demonstrates comprehensively the construction
of a European-style oboe reed and is beautifully produced.
The tying-on and scraping process is well explained and I
feel this would be a very useful introduction to reed-making
for newcomers to the Art.
The chapters making up the DVD include: Introduction,
Tools, Tying-on, Scraping, General Tips and Cane Selection.
There are sections on American-style reeds from Martin
Shuring, cor anglais reeds from Bram Nolf of the Belgian
National Orchestra and the ever problematic business of
knife sharpening.
But the real coup de grace is the contribution made by the
guests to this video. This is an enormous bonus. The DVD
includes filmed comments on reed-making from eight
outstanding oboists such as Francois Leleux, Nicholas
Daniel, David Walter, Sebastian Giot and others. There are
also scenes in the film from technical experts, Udo Heng of
Reeds n’ Stuff and Dimiter Jordanov of Roseau Chantant.
They demonstrate cane-processing machines and give very
helpful insights into their use.
As commented by Francois Leleux, there are no definitive
answers to the problem of making oboe reeds! Each player
has to find his own way. On the other hand these two
DVD’s go far along the journey in helping us oboists find a
method we can trust to at least approach a reed nirvana.
They are both well worth the investment.
CD REVIEWS
50 Years of French Bassoon Music
Marc Vallon, bassoon
CD information below
Geoffrey Bridge
Beginning on the basson, transferring to the Heckel system
and collecting along the way the baroque and classical
instruments, it would be something of an understatement to
say that Marc Vallon has had a wide-ranging career as a
bassoonist. He is a distinguished and original teacher of
students of all ages. Before taking up his present position as
Professor of Bassoon at the University of Wisconsin, he not
Double Reed News 85 Winter 2008 39