Klarinet Archive - Posting 000836.txt from 1999/04

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] early cl.CD w/Anthony Pay
Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 16:37:22 -0400

On Sun, 18 Apr 1999 09:43:25 EDT, LoriLovato@-----.com said:

> What did you mean by "your clarinet packed up in the middle of
> recording the CD?"

As first clarinet of AAM, I'd nevertheless invited Erich Hoeprich to
play the first part on this disc because the idea of including the
oboe/clarinet concerto was his (I didn't even know the piece existed);
and also he *made* both the instruments, which were copies of two-keyed
Denner clarinets.

Plus of course the fact that he's a wonderful player.

The two-keyed clarinet is a bit strange. For one thing, because you
don't have a downward extended 'clarinet' register (there's no LH
little-finger key to get the B natural, so you can't) the upward
extension of the 'chalumeau' register involves that the B *natural*
corresponds to the fingering that a modern clarinet uses for B *flat*.

Also the reed/mouthpiece match is tricky, as the mouthpiece, like the
instrument, is made of boxwood, which is a bit too labile. I suppose
that the mouthpiece of the instrument Erich had sent me had gradually
warped over the course of the time I was playing it, because I suddenly
couldn't play any low notes (quite a disadvantage for a 'second'
part:-). The upper register worked better, but that wasn't much use to
me.

And on this instrument you can check that it's not that the keys aren't
covering quite quickly -- there are only two!

So I had to say something like, "give me 5 minutes," and go over into a
corner and try to scrape the reed so that it worked. Fortunately, I got
it right enough to complete the piece, with a few retakes.

As they say about the process of recording, "you're either bored to
death, or you're scared to death." The saying's not quite true, but
everybody recognises why we sometimes want to repeat it.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

... Please may I leave the room, sir? My brain is full.

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