A friend told me about this article in the Times today about a giant oboe gathering around Albrecht Mayer. Some quotes:

“Oboists are a peculiar lot: they give the tuning A before performances and often have the most prominent solos in a piece. Their instrument can sound like a singing human voice or squawk like a duck. Half their lives are spent hewing bits of cane to make the double reeds that can produce those gorgeous sounds but also prove cruelly disloyal.”

“The precarious nature of the double-reed existence creates a bond, several of the oboists said.”

“Crowded between the refrigerator and a kitchen island laden with food, [Randall Wolfgang and Albrecht Mayer] traded stories about Marcel Tabuteau, the patriarch of American oboe playing, who died in 1966.”

Of course.

And my favourite parts:

““I’ve seen you on YouTube,” Mr. Killmer told Mr. Mayer. “It’s a great honor to meet you.””

Dick Killmer watches YouTube!

and

“As they headed for the door, Mr. Mayer expressed wonder at the number of oboe players who had been there.

“Just imagine a terrorist bomb,” he said. “So many jobs in this room!” Then he left to take the No. 1 train to his Midtown hotel.”

Edit: Just discovered that Patty got there first. Man! I was all like, “I am on the ball for once!” But no one is more on the ball about oboe news than Patty.

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