Klarinet Archive - Posting 000132.txt from 2009/07

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Basset horn discussion
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:23:30 -0400

First, I want to congratulate Wolfgang for his posting about selling and
renting basset clarinets. I never thought the day would arrive in which one
could buy such an instrument in three versions, and so quickly, too.

And Diego's posting that speaks to the fingering systems of a basset
instrument is really excellent and thoughtful.

At one time, I owned three basset horns and all three had different
fingering systems for the low notes. Two were Selmers, and one was by Fox of
Canada. None of them was a satisfactory solution to the problem of the
basset notes, what with three thumb keys that were difficult to negotiate.
There was never any ability for rapid execution on an =
instrument with three thumb keys.

But one of the things that all three provided was a spectacular solution to
the throat tone B-flat. It was called "the long B-flat" and was achieved by
fingering low e-flat along with the register key. The quality of the throat
tone b-flat varied, but with the Fox basset horn, the b-flat was
magnificent. One of the two Selmer instruments was built for and owned by
Rosario Mazzeo, who sold it to me after his retirement from the Boston
Symphony. It had a magnificent throat tone B-flat, but to achieve it I had
to use the Maze system (which was turned on or off by a simple mechanism),
and which I never got used to.

The one opportunity I had to play a basset clarinet caused me to realize
that the entire instrument benefited from the extended length even if the
low notes were never used. I had found that my regular A clarinet had a
sound characteristic that was better than my B-flat clarinet, and I
attributed that improvement to the greater length of the A. (The same was
true for the C clarinet.)

I do a lot of reviewing, and just a week ago, I had the pleasure of
reviewing a performance of Mozart's quintet with the soloist using a basset
clarinet. You might find the review of some value, since we are speaking
about the instrument itself.

http://www.sfcv.org/reviews/carmel-bach-festival/schubert-and-mozart-supplant-bach-in-carmel

If you have trouble with this long link, try http://tinyurl.com/lotst2

I mention this because I am now at the point of being critical of any
clarinet player who performs K. 581 or K. 622 in public on anything other
than a basset clarinet.

And according to the article in the music dictionary edited by the late
Stanley Sadie, Anton Sadler had three basset clarinets which he took with
him to any playing opportunity that he was offered. That included his use
of all three instruments in the Prague performances of "La Clemeza di Tito"
which he played in Mozart's presence! We all know of the use of the B-flat
basset clarinet (and also the basset horn) in that opera, but there are also
orchestral parts for both C and A clarinets, too. So Stadler must have used
all three basset clarinets in any performance of the work. (I wonder if
Stadler had a clarinet in B-natural which Mozart uses in two operas.)

Now that would be a difficult instrument to reconstruct!! A pair of them are
required for "Cosi fan tutti"

Dan Leeson

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