Recent reviews of The Robert Bloom Collection, a 42-volume set of scores and parts to the editions of 18-century music and compositions of Robert Bloom compiled and edited by Sara Lambert Bloom, including her comments and insights in a preface to each volume, self-published, December 1998 1. Daniel Stolper, reviewing for Notes, the Journal of the Music Library Association, to be published September 2001: "The box containing the Robert Bloom Collection arrived with a meaningful thump on the front porch as though it were a treasure chest. And such it proved to be as I unwrapped the massive package containing this unparalleled collection of oboe music, each work enclosed in rich burgundy covers as though they indeed were treasures. All of this music, more oboe music than I had ever seen in one package, is associated with the legendary Robert Bloom, "generally considered to be one of the greatest oboists of his generation and perhaps of all time," in the words of Gordon Emerson of the New Haven Register (March 1980) "It is the legacy of Bloom's pedagogy that is the real gift of the Bloom Collection. Sara Lambert Bloom, a distinguished oboist, teacher, and scholar in her own right, enjoyed a unique twenty-eight-year-long association with Bloom, first as his pupil, then as his spouse. Her prefaces to each work in the collection, written in the style of a master-class presentation, expound Bloom's core beliefs in performance practice. She remarks that "both the prefaces and the editions presuppose a working musicianship and are not intended for the novice without some additional guidance." Especially valuable are her extensive notes on the Mozart Oboe Concerto and her twenty-four- page essay The Art of Elaborating 18th-Century Music: Remarks Gathered from the Writing and Teaching of Robert Bloom and a First Lesson "Reading Sara Bloom's series of prefaces to the works offers its own reward. She is as much an artist with the pen as she is with the oboe. Her erudition and burning commitment to this project shine through on every page her prose often reads like poetry. Photos and old programs from the Bloom family album add an appealing personal touch. The collection is presented in beautiful, easy-to-read print on high quality paper and the elegant burgundy covers match those of the compact discs in the companion collection of recordings. Every serious oboist, and certainly every teacher of serious oboe students, will want to own this collection, and it is an indispensable addition to the library of every school where the oboe and other wind instruments are taught." 2. Individuals: "Your work compares with the Bernstein papers as a most impressive preservation of an American artist's work. Congratulations." James Sinclair, archivist, Charles Ives papers, Yale University and author, "A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives" publ. by Yale University Press 552