Klarinet Archive - Posting 000045.txt from 2005/06

From: "danyel" <rab@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bb versus C Clarinet?
Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 06:40:30 -0400

Matthew,
sorry, of cause I know that the C is indispensable for serious orchestra
musicians (or anyone playing Schubert's Octet) in spite of many conductors
not caring for them and as a composer or conductor I would certainly insist
on using them whenever called for. I prefer period instruments anyway and
usually you can't play a C part on a 6-key Bb. Anyway you shouldn't.
Yet I was thinking in terms of the Austro-German scene and I must admit,
please don't get me wrong on that, I tend to forget about the French-style
clarinets because they are so different instruments, if you play Mahler on a
Buffet it doesn't matter to me what pitch, it's a different instrument, like
you would play oboe parts on a saxophone. In Austria and Germany the C is
getting rare, O. Hammerschmidt offers a Children C with Bb-like bore and Mp
and makes proper C's only on special request etc. Several German makers
deluged the market with children C's that are rubbish. Most recent C's have
bores and Mp more like a Bb anyway. Isn't that the case with at least the
Leblanc (I don't know about the R13) as well? (I just recently got an old
stock original C-mp by O. Hammerschmidt that is quite tiny, smaller and
narrower even than my old Uebel; I would love to have the matching
instrument one day).

Best wishes,
danyel

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Lloyd" <matthew@-----.uk>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 11:23 PM
Subject: RE: [kl] Bb versus C Clarinet?

> Danyel,
>
> You say that "today [the C clarinet] is almost exclusively made and used
> as a
> starting instrument for children (for whom the stretch on the Bb is too
> much)."
>
> I'm afraid this is nonsense. There are indeed clarinets of this
> description (the Lyons instrument) but these are not typical.
>
> Most makers have a top flight C clarinet. Do you really think Buffet
> make the Prestige instrument for children?
>
> The C clarinet is, as you will have read, an important part of an
> orchestral players armoury. Playing C parts on the Bb or A is plain
> wrong, as indeed it would be if you were to play them on an oboe.
>
> Matthew
>

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