Woodwind blending, something I've noticed.

So, I've noticed this whenever I compose for woodwinds, be it as part of an orchestra or a woodwind quartet. Some blends are better than others. Sometimes it has to do with the dynamic curves being similar, like with the Oboe and Bassoon blend, but other times, I can't really seem to explain it. In terms of dynamic curves, I'd say these are the best pairs:

• Flute and Clarinet
• Oboe and Bassoon

And of course, there are these 2 classic blendings:

• Flute and Oboe in thirds
• Flute and Bassoon in octaves

When I try to blend the Flute and Clarinet, I often have the Clarinet an octave below the flute, partly because that's usually where it falls when I am doing a full orchestral tutti chord. And sometimes it works beautifully and sometimes it doesn't seem to work at all and Oboe and Bassoon seem to be better choices. But why? I mean, the dynamic curve of both the Flute and Clarinet is quiet low register up to loud and strident altissimo register, whereas both the Oboe and Bassoon have a natural diminuendo from low to middle register and then the dynamic curve goes up.

Bassoon and Clarinet, I generally don't have problems with. Same for Oboe and Clarinet. Probably because they are all reed woodwinds. Flute and Clarinet seems to be the one and only woodwind blend that either works beautifully or doesn't work at all. Even adding the Oboe in thirds with the Flute or the Bassoon an octave below the Clarinet doesn't always make that blend work

To tell the truth, although I've read some of the classical books on orchestration (Rimsky-Korsakov, etc...), I think the "rules" they give regarding blendings, etc...., must be seen in context (romantic and post-romantic era).

Some of those combinations work, no matter what language you have chosen. But in general terms, I prefer my own exploration. Depending on how I want the music to sound, I combine instruments. Sometimes, the wind family can sound "void" (to me) but if that's what I like, why not? At least, working with the orchestra is also a matter of color and contrast. Of course, I'm talking about composing in a more or less contemporary style (it doesn't mean atonal).

An interesting topic indeed.

Whereas the strings are homogenous throughout their range, WWs have their own unique timbres, the likes of which depends on what part of the register they’re playing in; and relative strengths and weaknesses at various dynamics. (I tend to look on them as colouristic, like holding a palette of timbres.)

Don’t overlook the additional instruments per family: the piccolo, cor aglais etc. The piccolo can be remarkably sweet and lyrical in its lower twelfth.

Doubling is either about reinforcing the sound or creating a new timbre. The clarinet blends with almost anything. In solo you need to be aware of the e to g (concert pitch) at the top of the lower (chalumeau) register. It’s very dry. Debussy capitalised on that in L’Apres-midi.

In orchestral work there are questions like dovetail or not (in chords)? and what doubles well at the unison and one or two octaves? Beethoven’s woodwind writing is exemplary re the classical period.

In quartets and WW ensembles composers will be concerned with simply what sounds right for the context: the register, articulation, dynamic. Modern wind quartets/quintets are the best for showing their colouristic resources: Barber’s Summer Music or Villa-Lobos’ Quintette en forme de Choros. (If you’re interested in chamber, also consider the Quintet as the Horn has every justification for inclusion.)

As Luis says, best to explore. 

4 hours ago, Quinn said:

Don’t overlook the additional instruments per family: the piccolo, cor aglais etc. The piccolo can be remarkably sweet and lyrical in its lower twelfth.

I totally agree, I mean just listen to this concerto by Vivaldi(I'm skeptical as to it being for piccolo, I think it was a Flute Concerto originally):

The piccolo here sounds sweet as a bird chirping and as mellow as a Concert flute, not shrill and like it's going to overpower a fortissimo orchestra(which Beethoven uses to his advantage in the Storm from his Pastoral Symphony, that shrill and overpowering character to represent the wind)

And the auxiliary instruments all have their own qualities, e.g. the English Horn being mellower sounding than the Oboe, the Contrabassoon being much like the Double Bass in its depth, Bass Clarinet having the deep bass of the Bassoon combined with the mellow timbre of the Clarinet etc. and I don't ignore them, I do use them. Contrabassoon and Bass Clarinet especially, although Piccolo isn't exactly rare in my pieces either, especially in suites. English Horn is the outlier here, I have rarely ever used it. Like maybe once or twice I composed for English Horn, that's it.

There are 2 main things to consider if you want a "blended" woodwind sound:

1) All the instruments must be in either their "strong" or "weak" register. Adler's book has charts with all this, but I recommend reading the whole treatise.

2) Chords should be voiced in close position, i.e. without huge gaps. That's explained in Rimskiy's book, and there can be some exceptions, but these are quite rare.

Also, horns are very often used to enhace the blend, especially in pre-20th century music. They aren't technically a woodwind, but can act as one.

If you want to split hairs, I recommend Koechlin's treatise, but it's (AFAIK only) in French.

Also, don't trust the playback of sh1tty synths (e.g. Musescore soundfonts). Use either Noteperformer or an expertly crafted VST/DAW with good samples.

7 hours ago, Snake_Cake said:

2) Chords should be voiced in close position, i.e. without huge gaps. That's explained in Rimskiy's book, and there can be some exceptions, but these are quite rare.

Wait, what? I thought woodwinds followed the same Harmonic Series rule that is best for Strings, i.e. big gap at the bottom, small gap at the top. Like, if I am voicing a chord for Woodwind Quartet, this is a very typical distance for me to use between woodwinds:

• Flute - Bassoon -> 2 octaves
• Flute - Clarinet -> Octave or Sixth(complete or incomplete chord)
• Flute - Oboe -> Fourth or Third(Third being more common in melody than harmony)
• Oboe - Bassoon -> Octave + Fifth or Octave + Sixth
• Oboe - Clarinet -> Fifth or Third(This is usually where the Third lies in harmony)
• Clarinet - Bassoon -> Octave or Tenth

Oh, nope. The first thing to keep in mind with woodwind writing is that it's not like writing for strings. Writing for brass is quite analogous to writing for strings, because each of the 2 families is relatively homogeneous (strings almost perfectly homogeneous, brasses a bit less so because you have are 2 kinds of bore). Also, each instrument is quite homogeneous along its register.

Each woodwind has 2-3 registers with completely different characters, and each instrument has a completely different waveform (e.g. clarinet has no odd-numbered harmonics, while the others have), which kind of defeats the whole harmonic series thing (and the series thing should only be a loose guideline, never a dogma).

Now, it is possible to write in rather open voicings, but but the default is close voicings (Rimskiy says it, and probably Adler says it too). Also, when I said "close voicing", it assumes the bassline is completely independent, so the bassoons can be far away from the rest.

Another takeaway from Rismkiy is that if you only have a woodwind quintet and nothing else (didn't know that was your aim), blend will be an issue constantly, that's why most woodwind quintets eschew it almost altogether (esp. if you have no horn) and focus on counterpoint and other non-blended sonorities.