Klarinet Archive - Posting 001028.txt from 2000/06

From: MVinquist@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Stalder recording of Mozart Concerto
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 12:05:58 -0400

Alf Ho"rberg asks about the Stalder recording of the Mozart Concerto:

>Which orchestra is it and who's conducting? Do you have any specific
>information about the instrument, like who made it? Are you sure it is a
>Basset clarinet? Is the recording on original or modern instruments?

The Hans Rudolf Stalder recording of the Mozart Concerto was with the Cologne
Chamber Orchestra conducted by Helmut Mu"ller-Bru"hl. (Sorry - my e-mail
editor won't make umlauts.) It was issued on an LP by Schwann, Koch-Schwann,
or BASF (according to which place on the jacket and record label you look)
with the number VMS 807. It is on modern instruments with a modern basset
clarinet.

I believe it dates from the mid-1970s, before there were any
made-from-scratch basset clarinets. I met Stalder at the Clarinet Congress
at Oberlin maybe 15 years ago, and he confirmed that he had had an extension
made for his existing (Buffet) A clarinet .

The problem with adding an extension to an existing modern (Buffet)
instrument is that it throws the bore relationships out of whack. Remember
that the lower joint bore starts to flare out about halfway down, to be
continued and terminated by the bell. On the A clarinet in particular, it's
a close balance to get written low E and middle B to play with the same tone
color as the rest of the instrument. If you've ever played a full Boehm A
clarinet, you'll know that those two notes are not so hot, and the low Eb is
nearly unusable.

The problem is worse when you extend the bore down to written low C. The
dramatic and unpleasant change of tone color now happens on low E, and the
extended notes, even from such a sensitive and virtuosic player as Stalder,
are just a blatty honk, like a bad bass clarinet.

Also, the extension throws off intonation badly in the lower part of each
register and produces random unevenness of scale elsewhere.

All the modern basset A clarinets I've tried (including Buffet, Leblanc,
Selmer and Steve Fox) have had this problem with change of tone color, and
I've never heard a modern basset clarinet recording that avoids it (though
Sabine Meyer comes close in her recent live recording).

Stalder was the principal in the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. (I believe he
recently retired.) He was a remarkable player. At the Oberlin Clarinet
Congress, he gave what I thought was by far the most impressive recital -- a
gigantic, ringing, beautiful tone that filled a very large, dead hall,
infinitely fast fingers and a musical personality that put him right in front
of you rather than up there on the stage.

His recording of the Mozart Concerto is, in my opinion, one of the best ever,
with all of his wonderful tone, phrasing and personality turned to the use of
the music. But for the intonation and tone problems on the low notes
(neither of which was his fault), this recording would be near the top of my
list.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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