Klarinet Archive - Posting 000141.txt from 2000/03

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Tony Pay's playing
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 20:27:40 -0500

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Pay [mailto:Tony@-----.uk]
>
> There were two different instruments: the Weber was done on a copy of a
> Simiot clarinet, Lyons c. 1800, the Crusell on a H.Grenser copy of about
> the same period, 9 keys both. (Copies done by Daniel Bangham, who
> doesn't do that sort of thing anymore, alas.)
>
> The Crusell instrument is rightish: Crusell had an 11-keyed Grenser,
> whereas Baermann had a 10-keyed Griesling and Schlott, which instrument
> I've never seen. (There's a wonderful G&S bassethorn in Washington,
> though, which I had the opportunity to try once, lucky me.)
>
> I think the mouthpieces, although specially made, aren't quite like the
> mouthpiece on the surviving Crusell Grenser, but I haven't checked that
> out in detail. (I should, I know.) I now use the Grenser mouthpiece on
> the Simiot too, which focusses the sound a bit more, and therefore
> actually makes it warmer than on the record, which I think is an
> improvement.
>
> The most annoying thing about the Grenser is the instability of the top
> C", which creates a problem *exactly* where you don't want one. On the
> Simiot, it's the D" that's wrong, which is more tractable.
>
> Tony

Tony,

I've always wondered, with all the "Copy of Stradivarius" violins knocking
around people's attics that play nothing like a real one, how we know that
these copies of old clarinets really have anything like the playing
characteristics of the originals.

Did any of the original players of these instruments leave behind any
written instructions to the makers suggesting improvements, praising
specific characteristics of specific instruments or complaining about
problems like an unstable note or an unevenly tuned scale? Are there any
production mysteries surrounding the old woodwinds to compare with the
questions surrounding the old Italian violins? Like how the wood was
prepared or how the bore might have been finished and treated by the
original maker?

Where would someone read about any of this (as opposed to simply reading
key by key descriptions of the old instruments we have in museums)?

Karl Krelove

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org