Klarinet Archive - Posting 000443.txt from 1997/01

From: jjarvie@-----.nz
Subj: McCaw;Boosey;Buffet
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 18:16:00 -0500

Robert Walzel wrote:

"Just to plant a seed for a somewhat new topic of discussion, I believe
McCaw, who was Solo Clarinetist with the Philharmonia and then New
Philharmonia Orchestra in England, was one of the first English
clarinetists (although he is actually from New Zealand) to abandon the
Boosey 1010 in favor of the Buffet. I have always admired McCaw's playing
and would be interested in reading more discussion about him."

As a former pupil of McCaw, I'm happy to take up the challenge. All Robert's
observations are correct. However, at the time of the Nielsen/Mozart recording
John was using a Boosey 926 mouthpiece on his Buffets. Is the mouthpiece not
more significant than the instrument? In my opinion, certainly so. The Boosey
mouthpieces have a much larger tone chamber than French or American ones. The
bore of the 926 mouthpiece is a cone measuring about 15 mm at the bottom
(instrument) end, thus possibly too large to play narrow bore French instruments
in tune. I really don't know but would not have been surprised if John had not
inserted a liner to correct this - he was an inveterate experimenter and
perfectionist, for example he was using leather pigskin pads covered in cling
wrap to improve the surface properties. The greatest lesson that I learned from
him was that the instruments as supplied by the maker are just a starting point.
McCaw's whole approach to the clarinet was very thoughtful.

Can McCaw be considered as part of a British school of clarinet playing? Some
of my thoughts are - As someone who has migrated in the opposite direction, I've
observed New Zealand clarinettists to be more influenced by America than
Britain, possibly as a result of the number of American army bands who passed
through during the war. The distinctly British mouthpiece allows a player to
develop an individual sound (Brymer has some interesting comments in his book).
John sounds like the best of the British based players and shares their
underlying characteristic of being unique and highly individual.

Boosey 1010s were certainly pervasive among the principals of the London
orchestras from Thurston and Kell through to the 70s. There were always
exceptions, Bernard Walton being the most notable - I believe he was using
Hammerschmidt reform-Boehm but am not 100% sure. I have a recording of the
Halle orchestra winds under Barbarolli playing the Guonod nonet in stereo, so
not too old, where the principal clarinettist is Pat Ryan playing on simple
system. A generation earlier the wonderful Charles Draper was playing French
bodied instruments with a one inch long mouthpiece lay, probably not too
dissimilar to many contemporary American players.

John Jarvie
jjarvie@-----.nz