Klarinet Archive - Posting 000616.txt from 2001/07

From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] German v French
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 05:43:33 -0400

Traditions die hard so they say. And so it looks like the German
clarinettists have got a fight on their hands.

Does the German instrument really sound different from the French, or
English or American? Or is the sound different because of German "accessory"
items like mouthpiece and ligature.

We know that other woodwind instruments also have similar dissimilarities.
Especially oboes and bassoons. For example, I expect a bassoonist would say
that the differences in their instruments create a different "sound". But we
don`t hear of preservation appeals from many other bassoonists, or indeed
any musicians do we? There seems to be a general tolerance, indeed interest
in colleagues appearing with different kinds of instruments.

My opinion, which has been seen to be quite dogmatic at times, reckons that
the French clarinet will win in the end. French clarinets are at this time
being manufactured in Germany, and it is probably fair to assume also being
fairly well advertised. It could be that the French clarinet is also easier
to manufacture.

The French "school" of playing, at least on the continent if not so much in
Britain, could also be quite well respected, enough to persuade some German
youngsters to follow that path.

Certainly globalisation will not (in the end) help the German clarinettists
in their
cause.

Tony W.

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