Klarinet Archive - Posting 001185.txt from 2003/03

From: "Allan Thompson" <athompson@-----.za>
Subj: [kl] C Clarinet
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 14:47:25 -0500

As anyone who plays on period instruments will know, the sound that a 5-key
or a 12-key boxwood clarinet makes is very different from their modern
equivalents, in timbre, pitch and projection. To say that Beethoven or
Berlioz or even Strauss wanted the sound of a modern Boehm C clarinet is the
equivalent of saying that Bach would have preferred his works to be played
on the piano. Having said this, I myself prefer playing on the 'correct'
instrument, but the reasons are not because the composer would have
preferred the modern sound.

Allan Thompson

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