Klarinet Archive - Posting 000408.txt from 1999/05

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Today's NY Times (5/4/99)
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 10:41:36 -0400

On Tue, 11 May 1999, Jay Webler wrote:
> People will look for any reason to look down their noses at other people. We love to
> exalt ourselves at the expense of others. If this leap forward in
> technology actually added
> to the quality of life or brought forth a cure to the common cold than
> I would be the first to
> condemn someone for not using a Bassett Horn. However, it doesn't. We
>are going back and using an instrument that was used a couple of hundred
> years ago and then we call it a leap forward. I have a hard time
> understanding how this is king of logic.
>
> If it is a matter of working or not working, than by all means get a
Bassett. But if it is only done to keep up with the Jones', no thank you.
>
> Other than that I love the sound of a Bassett Horn in the hands of a good player.

As Dan Leeson has pointed out (boy do I remember him pointing it out), the
modern basset horn is really an alto clarinet pitched in F with a low c
extension added. It is not really like the basset horn that has the small
bore, etc.....I argued at that time that the basset horn, like an
automobile will improve in design and, eventually, the most modern won't
look or behave anything like the older model, or the one several
generations removed. As the owner of a 1941 Chevrolet I can attest to
this analogy.

My point? The basset horn Sabine Meyers uses, the one I own and use, and
the ones used throughout most of the United States and abroad do not even
come close to resembling the ones used in Mozart's time.

All that being said, Jay has admitted to his credit that he really likes
the sound of a basset horn in the hands of a good player. This simply
reinforces what Dan was saying - that the sound we believe was intended by
Mozart (if we can determine what he really wanted) or any other composer
is best preserved by using the instrument the composer indicated.

Other posts have been interesting in that they point out the need to
transpose when a specific instrument is needed. If you don't have the
horn, you have no choice. If you have the horn, should you transpose or
play it on the horn? Since I own both an Eb and a D clarinet, I love to
play the D whenever I get the chance. Is there much difference between
the sounds? Believe it or not - yes. It is a small difference - like
that between the A and Bb clarinet - and with a really fine player, it is
more in the feel than the sound itself (feel - meaning resistance, the way
it blows, etc.). Could the composer tell? Hmmmmm.......good question.

I play the Gran Partitta in about a month in Milwaukee with some of the
symphony players there. I pulled out the horn today and played through -
what great fun!!! Now, I have to devise some eingangs just in case I am
asked to play them - my ability to do so shooting from the hip is ok - but
best to be prepared!!!
Roger Garrett
Professor of Clarinet
Director - Concert Band, Symphonic Winds & Titan Band
Advisor - Recording Studio
Illinois Wesleyan University

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