Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-10-14 16:11
One of the major problems with "this brand/model over that brand/model" comparisons is that it's very hard to come up with a "field" of different horns with which to compare any one other horn.
I'm a big fan of the "full Boehm" clarinet, and I have urged others to at least consider that option when making a purchase. None ever do. Why not? The main problem is, just how do you obtain that horn to make the comparison?
Many of those who "down" a particular make or model are often working from second hand information at best, and often at third or fourth removes. Some teacher reads in a book (which itself may be second or third hand information) that the Albert "system" horn isn't suitable compared to the "Boehm", passes that information on to his/her students, and presto, "everybody" knows that Albert clarinets aren't as "good" as a Boehm. Ditto the German system horn (which is in many ways just an "improved" Albert).
However, I'd venture that not one in a hundred of those logged into this board have even held an Albert or Oehler horn in their hands, much less played one. Listen to a recording by a German symphonic group, and I doubt that you can fault the quality of performance that you hear coming from the clarinet section. Lazarus' style and tone were acclaimed by one and all, and he did it all on an Albert horn. Yet, "everyone" knows all about the Albert and Oehler horns and how the Boehm is superior? How about, "everyone" (that is, up to the 99th percentile)_doesn't_ know about them?
I've loaned my "full Boehms" to close friends on occasion, but a Series 9 isn't exactly the most current acoustic version of the clarinet, so there are issues with the comparison at the very start. Then too, when I'm around other musicians, I'm usually already engaged in playing my clarinets making them mostly unavailable for others to use.
(And, for the record, no one has ever taken me up on the offer of loan of an Albert or Oehler "system" horn, not one. And only a few have been willing to try and play my Conn "artist model" alto from the 1920's. Whimps and candy-asses, I tells ya...)
Truth be told, once you get outside of the whitebread "17/6" clarinet, you're unlikely to find even one horn that is more fully equipped. Inventory, sales patterns, and other "real world" factors make it so. Thank God that some manufacturers have finally seen the light on the LHLF Eb/Ab lever, or you'd not even have that option open.
And, the more pricey the instrument, the fewer the likely choices. "Trying out a group of clarinets" is an option open to most of us (with a line of credit and a few connections); "trying out a group of bass clarinets" is much less so. Call Selmer and ask them to send out an assortment of bass saxophones on approval and see how long it takes for the laughter to stop issuing from the earpiece...
(When I picked out my first new baritone in the dark distant days of the 1960's, I made the trip to the Selmer fountainhead and got to select from a field of three. (All felt functionally the same, so it literally came down to the least scuffed case of the group...selection criteria of the first order.))
When I bought the alto and tenor back in the dark ages, there were literally dozens to choose from. Ditto the soprano, and that was back in the days when soprano wasn't cool. But, I've never seen more than three new "pro" baritones in the same trial room. Only one bass clarinet outside of the manufacturer's facility.
I did get to try two very well used Conn baritones up at Evanston once. Both sucked (and stank, as in reeking of mildew), but I though that I had entered some sort of twilight zone to have two of them in the same room at the same time.
Saxes and clarinets I've not played but that I really, really, REALLY want to play someday, if only to understand how they are different/better/worse/whatever:
Martin sax (the "good one", in baritone)
Couf sax (any model; I did see one once; weird looking big assed tenor, but the prissy owner didn't want anyone else's hands on her horn)
Buffet sax (any model)
Selmer clarinet (Centered Tone)
Until I do, I'll not venture any opinions on same. But that others would use the same criterion when making their judgments...
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