Klarinet Archive - Posting 000911.txt from 1995/10

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Professional Level Clarinets
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 01:35:14 -0400

John Baetens asks if $3100 is a correct price quote for a Rossi clarinet. I
saw them and tried them at the ICA convention in Arizona this past Summer.
$3100 is about right (heck, my Buffet R-13 Prestige A set me back
$2900). They really are remarkable instruments, as are the Howarths.

I remember there being a theft during the convention (Andrew Simon,
Principal of the Korean Phil, had his instruments stolen the night before
his recital, I believe). He desperately needed to borrow an instrument
for his performance. The story he related to me was that he talked to
Rossi, who agreed to allow him to borrow one of his custom hand-made
instruments for the performance, but that he would have to return it
immediately afterward. He took one of the Rossi clarinets into his room
(with Rossi present - and this was not one of the demo models, but was a
special carefully seasoned and hand-crafted instrument) and tested it for
a few minutes. Mr. Simon was so completely blown away by the instrument,
he offered Rossi $5000 for it on the spot. Rossi turned him down,
saying that the instrument was technically already sold - that he only
made around 20 of them per year and had back-orders to last him for many
years to come.

NBL

On Tue, 24 Oct 1995, John Baetens wrote:

> At 10:07 PM 10/23/95 PDT, Merrill Mitler wrote:
> >Dear Colleagues:
> >
> >We have heard about the relative advantages of LeBlanc and Buffet
> >instruments. What about Rossi instruments? Can anyone comment on the
> >great price (circa $3100 for a Bb) versus the supposedly great quality?
> >
>
> Are we being a little dyslexic here or did you really mean $3100? If
> that is a great price for the quality it must be one hellava clarinet.
>
> John Baetens
>