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Re: alto clari vs. basset horn

Author: beejay
Date: 2003-06-25 17:40

Alphie, I remeber that piece very well, because I read it just before getting my basset horn from Buffet Crampon and stuck it in my book of musical clippings.
Having now played the thing for a couple of years, I'm not sure I agree with you that it is an alto clarinet in F.
I do admit that when I first took delivery, I wasn't at all happy with the mouthpiece that came with it, a Vandoren B40. It was very easy to blow, and had a very big and full sound, which was probably right for an alto clarinet, but was not my idea of how a basset horn should sound.
With a different mouthpiece (from Ed Pillinger in London) the instrument sounds altogether more gentle. I also found that one needs to play with a very relaxed embouchure and thus fairly soft reeds.
Given these conditions, I think that even the modern, relatively large bore French basset horn has a sound that is quite distinct from an alto clarinet. Of course, I wonder if you get an alto clarinet to sound like a basset horn with the appropriate mouthpiece and embouchure adjustments.
The essential thing for me is that is such a wonderful instrument to play Mozart. Much of his basset horn music has been transcribed for clarinet. Transposing it back for an instrument in F gives it a totally different dimension, in my opinion.
I'd be very interested to hear what mouthpiece and ligature other basset horn players use, because it seems to me that these elements are more critical on this instrument than on the clarinet.

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alto clari vs. basset horn new

big fat lyre112

2003-06-24 20:07