Klarinet Archive - Posting 000174.txt from 2002/02

From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Survival of the basset clarinet
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 07:42:06 -0500

My thanks to Tony for his ever interesting thoughts on the type of clarinets
used to Weber & Mozart. I will have to invest in the Colin Lawson book at
sometime. My birthday coming up soon, so I`ll drop a hint to a very close
relative - - - -
After speculating tho` that the basset clarinet would/might have become the
"norm" if both Mozart and Stadler had survived, I`m just wondering a little,
whether I may be a bit pleased that they did die young, especially in
Mozart`s case, because I love the clarinet as it is these days. It is
possibly near to perfection as a design, and as an instrument to play. I
don`t believe that the difficulty with Eb,Db,C repeated (clarinet reg.)
makes it any more inferior that any other instrument. It`s the music writers
who need to "know" how to write properly for these instruments, which in the
end, together with the player makes for a "sublime" performance.
Thanks again for the two replies. Quite revealing.

Best,
Tony W.

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