 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2004-08-12 20:52
Funny thing... the other day I was going through "photocopies" (literally, since back in the day they took pictures of the music and developed the film) of Grainger's Children's March and found a part that said "Contrabasson, in place of Contra Sarrusaphone." So it was written orignally for Sarrusaphone! lol. I think I told this story before.
Check out this site, I love it. Been checkin it out for years.
http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/index.html
--CG
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Author: javier garcia m
Date: 2004-08-12 21:45
The original score for "Rapsodie Espagnole" from M. Ravel has a sarrusophone, but is played by contrabassoon.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-08-12 22:06
I can't remember what piece of music it was, but in college Wind Ensemble we played a piece that had a contra-alto sarrusophone part (might have been the aforementioned Grainger piece, come to think of it) and our esteemed contrabassoonist somehow located a sarrusophone to use and he played it (rather well, as I recall). As the bass clarinetist, I was honored to sit right next to him and thus received full enjoyment from his performance --- it was actually a very cool sound (think narrow-bore saxophone using a bassoon or contrabassoon reed, and you'll get the picture).
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Author: Contra
Date: 2004-08-12 22:52
I just had the oddest thought of a woodwind Dueling Banjos... It's even weirder since I can't remember ever hearing a sarrusophone.
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2004-08-12 23:47
Apparently, Lee Lachman (a local tech around here) owns a heckelphone!
--CG
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-08-13 01:32
I've got two or three French recordings of stuff like The Sorcerer's' Apprentice where the "contra bassoon" part is played on the correct instrument, the much maligned sarrusophone.
It sounds like a "wetter" contra-bassoon, neither better or worse than the contra-bassoon used in "non-French" groups. It does sound a bit more ominous than the Heckelized contra bassoon, and I think that it makes a better counterpoint to the bass clarinet doubling of the "restarted stream of magic brooms" that comes about two thirds of the way through the piece.
When I played in a number of musical groups at Washington University in Saint Louis in the early 1970's, I occasionally played the old "non-paperclip" Heckel contra bassoon that they had. The tone quality of that gigantic stovepipe reminded me of the sarrusophone, but it might just have been the technique of the player...
(This was the same school that had two Selmer basset horns, but only one basset horn neck...)
Sort of like the bass saxophone in Broadway musical productions, the sarrusophone is probably neglected as much through its rarity as for any other reason. It's not something you can order from B&H or Steinway (note adjustment to new marketing realities), no horns equal no reason to write parts, no parts equals no need for the horns, and so forth in a self destructive circle.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-08-13 02:04
Conta-alto sarrusophone? THAT oughta make your skull rattle, or at least expel any late-departing baby teeth.
I think that Contra is onto something. Sarrusophone probably IS the banjo of the woodwind family.
Allen Cole
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Author: Jen L.
Date: 2004-08-13 11:56
I actually sit next to a baritone sarrousophone in band. For the summer, anyway--during the regular season, Nat plays the bassoon, but during the summer he plays the bassoon parts on sarrusophe, because it has better projection for outdoor concerts. It sounds pretty nifty, and definitely carries better in an outdoor setting. He's been getting our band a lot of attention locally, because no one else has anyone playing that!
The downside is that it used to be an even competition between us for who had the coolest instrument--me on bass cl or him on bassoon. But ever since he started playing the new beastie, I can't even compete. All of the four-year-olds in the audience think he's got the cooler instrument, far and away. <sigh>
Jen L.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-08-14 03:02
Part of an old recording of Sidney Bechet playing a sarrusophone (the cornet player is Louis Armstrong) is found in mp3 format at http://www.contrabass.com/sounds/bechet2.mp3
I've never been able to confirm this (never tried hard enough, maybe) but it is my understanding that the 1949 Ray Milland movie "Alias Nick Beale" (known in the UK as "The Contact Man") featured a sarrusophone as the solo instrument in its title and theme music.
Regards,
John
P. S.: Dave, upon my first reading the title of this thread, I immediately wanted to let you know I would take the sarrusophone and eight points for 40 bux.
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Author: larryb
Date: 2004-08-14 14:39
The bechet sarrusophone snipet is from a 1924 Clarence Williams recording of Mandy, and I believe Louis is playing trumpet by this time. By most accounts, he switched from cornet to trumpet when he joined the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1924.
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