The oboe fucking SLAPS! It possesses the most expressive possibilities of any instrument. Yet, players restrict its dramatic capabilities with the cheap excuses of “blend” and “even tone.” Although occasionally useful, these two qualities represent only a fraction of what the oboe can and should do. Down with the wallflowers! The oboe can do anything. The purpose of this album is to document and demonstrate the oboe performing numerous genres – even the cool ones. The oboe can do it. As players we should be trained enough to handle it. In reality, I found learning and recording this album tested more of my musical abilities than the collected works of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Ravel. It is not that the music is theoretically complex, merely that the requirements of style and dramatic expression are far more extreme, varied, and demanding thus requiring more of the oboe’s abilities than standard classical repertoire. Even better, the demand is for dramatic expression, not superficial 20th-century techniques void of musical or expressive function. It’s high time we pushed the fences out. It’s high time we took them down entirely. It is time we stopped limiting the oboe’s ability under the disguise of “refinement” and let it’s powers loose on the world. Refinement without musical relevance makes the players modern-day “Scrooges.” Refinement for the sake of “showing refinement” is the same as money for money’s sake. Instead, we should be converting our abilities into extroverted musical expression and dramatic effect. What good is refinement alone? On a musical/dramatic level: very little. Use the skills of playing to go further, not to confine yourself to the middle of the road. Let’s explore! Let’s discover! Let’s do more with what we have. We have chosen the best instrument, it’s our duty to prove it!
