Ferling Op 13 Duo 3 for two oboes

Описание: This is the last of Franz Ferling's three “Trois Duo Concertants”, Opus 13, written in 3 movements for two oboes.

0:00 Allegro
5:56 Andante
7:52 Rondo Minuetto

I recorded them as part of my amateur oboe studies and present them as such, with acknowledgment of their many performance flaws. As part of my study, I searched for other recordings but found very few with the exception of the popular Rondo movement from Duo 1. I have found no recordings at all of Duos 2 or 3. Surely such recordings exist somewhere as it must be my search that was incomplete. However imperfect my own recordings may be, one who is exploring them may welcome finding my recordings over finding none at all.

A few notes about these recordings. Franz Wilhelm Ferling (1796-1834, Germany) was an accomplished multi-instrumentalist well known throughout Europe as an oboist, demanding teacher, and composer during the Romantic period. His 48 Etudes are a loved and hated foundation of every modern oboe and saxophone player's education (and let's not forget that 34 of those etudes were adapted to clarinet as well). These concert duets each contain an opening allegro movement, a slower middle, and an uptempo Rondo finale. A common compositional technique of the time was to include numerous internal repeats. Impatient folks such as I may find some of the repeats to be tedious. I honored repeats in this 3rd duo (but skipped them in the first two duos).

My somewhat laborious recording process may be of interest. These were recorded at my desk without acoustic treatments and with threat of an occasional truck rumbling past on the nearby gravel road, requiring some sound cleanup. A single Neumann U89i microphone was suspended about a meter above and a bit forward of my left hand, utilizing Pro Tools software. For each movement, I first created a metronome track to play through headphones while recording. The Oboe 1 part was recorded first. The Oboe 2 part was added to reveal some of Ferling’s unexpected sonorities and melodic intricacies. With the music now foremost in mind (tempered by respect for my aging fingers), numerous adjustments were made to the metronome track along with notations for performance. The revised metronome track served as a fresh guide for re-recording both parts. I attempted but often failed to record each part in one passthrough, as much as my abilities and the occasional vehicle pass by allowed. Blatant performance errors were fixed, of course, while many less egregious imperfections remain. It is with some trepidation that I allow so many flaws to be on public display, but I started this project as a personal study aid and have decided the remaining imperfections, “warts and all”, shall remain signposts of my performance skillset at this point in time.