Klarinet Archive - Posting 000890.txt from 1995/10

From: "Bryant, Mike J" <BRY1PDS%bu.bbc@-----.UK>
Subj: Re: Basset Horns
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 21:35:51 -0400

>From Mike Bryant

To Klarinet

Subject Basset Horns

24 October 1995

I hope to be brief and non-controversial.

Basset horns don't work very well because so few are made that the
research and development needed would not be repaid. They are frequently
out of tune with themselves because of an acoustic mismatch of the crook
to the rest of the instrument. Not many players have more than one crook,
the one delivered with instrument. The Selmer has for a long time been
regarded as the best but is also the most expensive by a large margin.
Even so I know of several cases (Selmer) were the positions of holes have
been completely replanned and keywork altered to suit particular players'
hand sizes. The Buffet basset was not much liked but they have now (1995)
produced a new design which is reported to be excellent. Contemporary
with the Selmer of the 1970/80s, the East German company Uebel made a
very good basset horn at a more modest price than the Selmer. It had a
downward facing wooden bell. I think that this company may have either
stopped making bassets or ceased business altogether in the post-1989
economic climate. Its register keys change-over mechanism is
complicated and requires constant attention to keep the spring strengths
correctly balanced. The Leblanc has a wide borer than the Selmer and
Uebel and uses not the ordinary Bb clarinet reed which renders Selmers
and Uebels rather underpowered, but an alto reed. The Leblanc has
therefore been long favoured by some clarinettists in the opera house
(e.g. English National Opera), as it is easy to make yourself heard in
the operas of Richard Strauss...

Everyone should have John Newhill's book on the basset horn and its
repertoire, which is scholarly and produced in such a way to keep the
price as low as possible. He produced a second edition to take account of
newly discovered and new repertoire. It is available from June Emerson
Wind Music, Windmill Farm, Ampleforth, Yorkshire, England or from the
author (who plays a Leblanc) John Newhill, 25 Amberley Road, Sale,
Cheshire M33 1QP England.

Mike Bryant

bry1pds@-----.bbc