Klarinet Archive - Posting 001209.txt from 1998/07

From: Note Staff Unlimited <notestaff@-----.ch>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 22:42:56 -0400

Sorry - I sent this with out signing a minute ago. Here it is again with my John
Hancock.

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

David Glenn

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