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Re: alto clari vs. basset horn

Author: beejay
Date: 2003-06-25 22:22

You are right GBK. Thank you for setting me right on that one. There is a most delightful recording of the Nocturnes and other basset horn music called "Une soirée chez les Jaquins."
The two books I promised to find are "The Basset-Horn & Its Music" by John P.Newhill, publihsed by the author, and "Bassethornmusik" by Thomas Grass. I don't have the publication details on this, although I'm sure Arnold the Bassethornist would. Between them, the two booklets show that the basset horn has an extremely rich repetoire although most of the composers are relatively obscure.
Newhill discusses in some detail the difference between narrow bore and wider bore instruments -- the latter having been introduced in order to improve intonation.
"The point that a basset horn with the same bore as an alto clarinet in Eflat must sound like one is simply not true" Newhill says.
He adds that the tonal differences between wide-bore and narrow-bore basset horns "are almost undectecable to the average listener, especially when one also considers that every player produces his own individual sound."
This comes back to my point about having the right mouthpiece, ligature and embouchure. It seems to me that different set-ups produce a far more noticeable variety of effects on the basset horn than on the clarinet.
As I said earlier, I would be interested in hearing what other players have to say about this, and particularly what thoughts they may have about specialized mouthpieces for this instrument.

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alto clari vs. basset horn new

big fat lyre112

2003-06-24 20:07