[zoomablemind]

Interesting observation is that sax having a conical bore and using a reed to induce the sound resembles an oboe. Indeed, the fingering is nearly the same. Yet, the brass resonates in a much brighter and louder way. The reed and the mouthpiece are of clarinet design, except of conical kind. A true hybrid, ingenious synthesis.

Oboe's sound is pliable, thanks to the double reed, player's embouchure, and the richer spectrum of the conical bore. On the other hand, clarinet's sound is more robust, but somewhat limited by the straight cylindrical bore. Marrying these two resulted in a robust yet richer sound. Let alone using brass for the body no need to worry so much about cracks and temperature swings. Perfect for outdoor performances!

Wish I've known these similarities back in the day ..., would've saved us lots of effort trying to blend in oboe sound into a 'cool' band - sax was all it needed! Oh, well, experimentation was fun still ...

[jacquesm]

Oboe is quite a neat instrument though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WJhax7Jmxs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE2O_yfgtBU

[jojobas]

Soprano sax is not that easy to tell from an oboe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b-zbqcRick

There are differences of course, but I'd bet the majority of people couldn't tell most of the time.

[jacquesm]

Beautiful! I can easily tell the difference but that's cheating (after playing the sax of 17 years or so), the sax sounds a bit sharper and the oboe 'rounder' if that makes any sense, which makes it easy to pick out what is played by which instrument. Originally this piece is for two oboes, but this is a really nice variation and lovely to see a saxophone used for more traditional music, I wished more people would do that (but saxes are typically frowned upon for performing classical works in a 'serious' setting).

[singingfish]

I keep describing the soprano sax as a "loud bluesey oboe". It's my second favourite sax to play.