More difficult case are the low notes of oboe and bassoon. Not many players can play them ppp as marked. Second oboists are afraid among other things of Dvorak cello concerto second movement. It can be played by the way by English Horn.
I noticed that my copy (from the Orchestral Musician’s CD-ROM Library) of Dvorak’s 7th has pencilled in markings for the beginning of the second movement. I’m fairly sure it’s so the second oboist could play the part on EH. I’ve always thought of this as cheating … but these days I’d cheat if the conductor would allow it!
Dvorak composed with this instrument [“Vienna oboe”] in mind, and in Vienna Brahms and Bruckner composed their late symphonies with this oboe player in mind. So you can understand that the composers were influenced by this instrument. For example, the 2nd oboe has to play low notes so soft in Dvorak and playing low notes softly is easier on the Vienna oboe than on the French oboe.
Quote found here.
Quick! Hand me a Vienna oboe. Of course I’ll be playing a 445 … but do you care? Of course not! What’s intonation anyway? 😉
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