Klarinet Archive - Posting 000101.txt from 2011/07

From: corvo di bassetto <rab@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] albert?
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2011 05:28:27 -0400

Bill,

French food is certainly better than German, and still people in germany ea=
t that ghastly stuff they are used to. So far for reason.

Prior to WW I German instrument makers like Ottensteiner, Kruspe, Haeckel a=
nd Uebel studied French, German, Austrian and Belgian models and went to Fr=
ance and Austria as travelling journeymen. Hence the German clarinet of tha=
t era reached an unprecedented level of perfection, while France was more a=
nd more driven into standardisation and mass production. Dropping the "Albe=
rt" system in favour of Klos=E9 excluded French clarinet makers from many s=
ubtle details of clarinet development. I have several late French and Belgi=
an "Albert" or "simple" (some not simple at all) instruments in my collecti=
on and my Selmer Albert ca. 1925 is fantastic. Too bad they did not continu=
e that development.
Hence, from the point of view of 20th century Austrian/German traditional c=
larinetists, outside Austria/Germany was third world. We used to have so ma=
ny individual clarinet makers of such high standards (some working with onl=
y very few apprentices and assistents or even alone), that the mass produce=
d factory instruments of France looked quite anonymous and carelessly made =
to an Austrian/German clarinettist. Remember that H. Moennig routinely did =
major work on imported instruments from France. Now things have changed aga=
in. Only very few traditional clarinet makers are left in Germany and the t=
rade secrets are wasted while great craftsmen in other countries like the U=
S are doing ground-breaking work. =

Still my old F.G. =DCbel, Kruspe, Berthold, O. Hammerschmidt, Moennig, Mein=
el etc. show a standard of craftsmanship that is quite unmatched. I have or=
had 4 Kruspe, 3 F.G. Uebel and 2 Berthold, and every one of them is an ind=
ividual instrument with features and qualities apparently tailored to the r=
equirements of the player and showing the result of continuous experimentat=
ion and improvement. Only Clemens Meinel and Herbert Neureiter (Austria) se=
em to work in that way today.

It is, BTW, not so much Dixiland players that favour the Albert, but tradit=
ional NO players. Noone, Bigard, Simeon, all played on Selmer Albert instru=
ments and I can affirm through many years of trying all kinds of clarinets =
that these instruments really have a very peculiar quality of their own. Ve=
ry different in fact from the modern "German" clarinet, more akin to the Au=
strian.

Best wishes
danyel

Am 14.07.2011 um 05:01 schrieb Bill Hausmann:

> Of course, if the Oehler system clarinets REALLY blended and sounded so m=
uch
> better, EVERYONE would be using them. Beauty is in the ear of the behold=
er.
> =

> Dixieland players often DO play Albert clarinets. I think it is more
> tradition than anything, and the fact that most Albert System clarinets h=
ave
> large bores, in the .590 range. But so do many other clarinets, most
> notably Series 9 and earlier Selmers and the Leblanc Pete Fountain model
> (now known as Big Easy). Like anything else in life, trade-offs must be
> made. "You pays your money and you takes your choice."
> =

> Bill Hausmann
> =

> If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!
> =

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Martin =

>> Subject: Re: [kl] albert?
>> =

>> =

>> On 11 Jul 2011, at 22:41, Finn Jespersen wrote:
>> =

>> =

>> Hi Bill and List! I don=B4t think that one uses the Oehler system just
>> because one does not want to use a french system! As far as I know the
>> Oehler system is required in every german orchestra because it mixes
>> better with the other woodwind instruments and because it sounds better
>> than the Boehm system (more soft). In other words, they have another
>> idiom! Isn=B4t that ok? Remember that some of the best clarinettists in
>> the world plays the Oehler system, Sabine Meyer and Karl Leister!
>> =

>>> From: Martin Baxter, Ulverston, UK.
>> =

>> I have come across several 'Dixieland/trad. jazz ' players who also
>> consider the Albert system and derivatives, of which I suppose the
>> Oehler is one, have a distinctly better tone than the Boehm. It isn't
>> only an Eastern European idea. Come to that the French bassoon, well
>> played, sounds to my ears much better than the Almenraeder-Heckel; bt I
>> still play that system (because it is easier to control and far less
>> fussy about reeds). I know from IDRS that many American players would
>> agree about the sound yet how many bassoonists on your side of the pond
>> play the French system?
>> Martin
> =

> =

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