Klarinet Archive - Posting 000222.txt from 2011/03

From: corvo di bassetto <rab@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] Basset Horn Question
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:03:26 -0400

Thank you. Actually I play on very particular instruments, some quite old. =
I play Brahms on my Berthold & S=F6hne, which is very close in sound and ch=
aracter to the Ottensteiner. =

Yet even today clarinets remain different and I think the modern Viennese C=
larinet (O. Hammerschmidt, Neureither=85) is more apt for classical music t=
han the current Buffets & altri. I play French impressionist music on a Se=
lmer Albert from the early 20s. That works well for me.
So far for thought.
Of course I reject the use of Haeckel bassoons for French music. Actually, =
I can do well without any bassoon at all.
I don't play K375 because I don't have the proper horn. I practice Mozart a=
t home and with my students but it is out of my reach for actual performanc=
e. Tutz in Innsbruck makes good copies of the kind of instruments the Stadl=
ers used.

Best wishes
danyel

Am 24.03.2011 um 20:26 schrieb Martin Baxter:

> Danyel wrote:
> How Brahms and Mendelssohn grasped that essence without playing themselve=
s is beyond me, but they came closer to it than anybody else I know (just a=
n opinion though). I played many an awful clarinet part by some modern, ig=
norant
> composer and have piles of opera parts that are clearly conceived for som=
ething in between a flute and a violin with occasional hues of trumpet. Sad=
ly, all these people had and still have no use for what Mozart established =
as the most accomplished and even somehow transcendental wind instrument. A=
gain, just an opinion, though based on experience and saturated with though=
t.
> =

> Surely Danyel a little more thought tells you that none of the above wrot=
e for the modern clarinet. The sound of the instruments for which they wrot=
e is quite different from that of today.
> =

> "The basset horn proper has a very peculiar character in sound, quite dif=
ferent from any sort of regular clarinet. Hence I don't think knowing the f=
ingerings alone suffices to write a good basset part. To me, timbre and "ch=
aracter" is pivotal in the invention of music." =

> =

> It seems reasonable to regard instrumental timbre as important in some co=
mposers' music; but I don't think you can assume that all composers regarde=
d it as vitally so. We know that Chopin preferred to play his music on an u=
pright piano, but I have never yet attended a Chopin recital where the solo=
ist has followed this preference.
> I agree with your statement that the tone colours of Basset-horns vary bu=
t the difference between French and German Bassoons is even greater. Would =
you claim that Saint-Saens for example should not be played on the ubiquito=
us Heckel? If so, and I think the claim could be justified, what instrument=
s do you use when you play K375?
> =

> Best wishes
> Martin
> =

> =

> =

> =

> =

> Am 22.03.2011 um 21:42 schrieb Tom Bassett:
> =

>> =

>> =

> =

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