Klarinet Archive - Posting 000181.txt from 1996/12

From: Joel Jaffe <jjaffe@-----.EDU>
Subj: Basset Horns
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 05:26:44 -0500

As long as we are all on the subject of Basset Horns, I would like to put
my two cents in.

I just had an opportunity to play the Mozart Requiem on Basset Horn, and it
was a fantastic experience. Sonoma State University (about 45 minutes
north of San Francisco) has two Selmer Basset Horns, which my school
(Cal-State Hayward) was able to borrow. Yes, the horns are a bit stuffy,
which is to be expected, but they play well and have a great sound. I
really enjoyed playing Basset, unfortunately we had to give them back - I
would have loved to tried out some of the rarely performed music for Basset
Horn.

In the Bastardized uses of a Basset Horn Dept: Recently I had to sub the
reed III book for West Side Story, and to get out of having to transpose
the english horn part, I played it on Basset Horn. I don't think Bernstein
had quite that instrumentation in mind...

Joel Jaffe
Graduate Student in Music - Composition
California State University, Hayward
jjaffe@-----.edu
http://haywire.csuhayward.edu/~jjaffe/