Klarinet Archive - Posting 000048.txt from 2006/04

From: "Rommel John Miller" <rjmiller@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bassetto in Boston
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 23:12:21 -0400

My question is and remains, why wouldn't, or shouldn't a LeBlanc basset
horn, or any other basset horn for that matter, sound like a basset horn
when you play it?

Which begs my eternal question: in tune, true and near perfect?

Which has been my problem with the past three Buffet R-13's from
you-know-where, that I SWORE I'd never talk about again!

Why do we have to be so mean to one another? And to diss a Vito or a Selmer
or a LeBlanc just shows petty snobbery.

And I still don't think I'm a snob, but I could be wrong.

Rafi
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Beckhardt" <lbeckhardt@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 8:55 PM
Subject: Re: [kl] Bassetto in Boston

> danyel,
>
> with all due respect, my Leblanc basset horn sounds
> exacly like a basset horn when I play it.
>
> the key to playing any basset horn to sound like a
> basset horn is this: one must keep in mind a sound
> picture of Lester Young's tone playing, lets say, his
> solo on Billie Holiday/Teddy Wilson's recording of "I
> Must Have that Man." This is clearly the sound that
> Stadler and the Springers had in mind.
>
> Good luck!
>
> --- danyel <rab@-----.de> wrote:
>
> > I would say it depends on the alto clarinet and on
> > the bassett horn and even
> > more so on the reeds and mouthpieces.
> >
> > A German alto clarinet in Eb by the Gebrüder Moennig
> > in my collection sounds
> > (with proper mouthpiece and reed) more like a
> > bassett horn (except for the
> > bottom notes of cause) than any modern bassett horn
> > I would know.
> >
> > Anyway, Stravinsky did not ask for a bassett horn at
> > all. There are alto
> > clarinets in F and they should be used if possible
> > (I have seen several by
> > Hammerschmidt and Uebel). Transposing the part on a
> > good Eb instrument could
> > be compared to playing C parts on the Bb--done all
> > the time. A real bassett
> > horn would be too soft and pale. On the other hand,
> > most modern *bassett
> > horns* are merely alto clarinets in F with
> > additional keys. Such large bore
> > instruments are as much bassett horns as a bass
> > clarinet with low C
> > extension could be called a bassett horn in C.
> > Historically and
> > aesthetically I don't think they have much in
> > common. In that respect, a
> > modern *basset horn* in F might be quite suitable
> > for the Stravinsky.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > danyel
> > www.echoton.de/clar.html
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
> > To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 4:48 PM
> > Subject: RE: [kl] Bassetto in Boston
> >
> >
> > > From Robert Howe in response to a request about
> > getting a basset
> > > horn in Boston for a performance of the 1929
> > Stravinsky.
> > >
> > > "Alto clarinet just isn't the same sound."
> > >
> > > Easy statement to make. Very difficult to
> > justify. What
> > > evidence is there that an alto clarinet can be
> > differentiated
> > > from a basset horn in realistic circumstances?
> > >
> > > I am not arguing for or against the statement that
> > Howe made.
> > > I'm only opening up for discussion this long held
> > belief for
> > > which almost everyone has an opinion, but also for
> > which this is
> > > little or no objective evidence to support or deny
> > it.
> > >
> > > Dan Leeson
> > > dnleeson@-----.net
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
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