Klarinet Archive - Posting 001208.txt from 1998/07

From: Note Staff Unlimited <notestaff@-----.ch>
Subj: [kl] Re: difference between basset and "short" clarinets
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 22:42:55 -0400

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Dear Clarinet Listers,

There have been several comments from various people about the differences -
or lack thereof - between basset clarinets and normal clarinets. Since nobody
seems to have mentioned some characteristic points and since I have been
playing on basset clarinets for over twenty (!) years, I thought maybe I
might also throw in my 2 cents.

Generally, the lower register of the basset clarinet (aside from the "basset"
notes) is richer and more sonorous - a definite improvement! The high
register, on the other hand, tends to be thinner. The altissimo comes more
easily and I think one also hears that. Specifically, the long B and C feel
and sound a little tighter on the basset. The differences resemble those of
bass clarinets which ext. to low Eb or to low C but, to me, seem slightly
more extreme.

I was in a position to make a pretty direct comparison as I first played on
my pair of Uebel clarinets for a few months before I had the extensions built
on. So I was comparing the same clarinets with and with out the low C
extension.

Which gets me onto a hobby horse: why don't clarinet builders supply ONE
clarinet in A with TWO lower joints - one normal and one basset version? This
would save costs and surely encourage more clarinettists to play (or
attempt?) the Mozart on the basset clarinet. The work really gains from it
even though there is still some guess work as to the exact right version. Or,
at the risk of insulting one or another "short" clarinettist, the work really
suffers from the lower register being cut off. Still, I admit, it's better to
perform the Mozart on a "short" clarinet than not at all!

Recommended reading on this matter: Robert Adelson, Reading between the
(Ledger) Lines: Performing Mozart's Music for the Basset Clarinet,
Performance Practice Review, vol. 10 No. 2, Fall 1997

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