 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2008-08-14 14:05
Recently I received the new Buffet Prestige Alto and I can report that it is one heck of a horn.
If you play the Buffet Prestige bass, you will notice some of the same modifications on this horn as occurs on the bass. Most notably there is a large vent on the bell for the low Eb. This modification makes the low Eb a much less stuffy note than on other altos I've played. Overall the mechanism is very smooth and very ergonomic in design. The peg is very secure and gives the horn a wonderful feeling of support. Even though I'm tall (6'3") I had no problem sitting with the horn on the floor and me in a chair.
One remarkable thing is the volume and quality of the sound and the intonation. All have been problems in the past. Not so with this horn. There are two neck joints that come with the horn and I found the longer one closer to A440 than the shorter one but it's good to have a little sharper one in case your oboist is tuning sharp that day. Anyway, checking with a tuner, I found no bad notes in terms of pitch. The worst offender was a C5 (as written, not as sounds) fingered with the side keys rather than standard. The altissimo notes were outstanding, easily ascending to C7. In fact those notes were easier than on my R13! Also a bit better in tune!
There are several things that seem to be unique to this horn. Compared to my LeBlanc (Paris) alto the length of grenadilla from the neck to the first keys is a good bit more and the whole joint is longer. The first finger right hand has a hole in it to improve the venting of the B/ F# which are notoriously wheezy notes on alto. This takes a bit of getting accustomed to for those who are less than precise in playing the lower clarinets although it seems to be an easy accommodation. It will let you know when you're not covering the tone hole properly!
OK, one shock for me was the behavior of mouthpieces on this horn. On the LeBlanc alto and basset horn the Hite mouthpieces have been my pick. Not so on this Buffet. The Grabner and Pilliinger mouthpieces played best and a Pomarico mouthpiece that wouldn't play a note on the LeBlanc positively SUNG on the Buffet. Have never seen such a mouthpiece difference before on any of my clarinets.
Wish I had this alto all my life. Would've made playing a lot more fun!
Eefer guy
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2008-08-14 14:15
Good news! Just out of curiosity, what opportunities do you have to perform on an alto clarinet? I have a very nice old Kohlert which is a joy to play, but it sits in my closet 364 days of the year.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-08-14 14:18
Is it only the Buffet Prestige alto that comes with a floor peg fitted as standard?
I don't think the Leblancs have them, and the Yamaha alto definitely doesn't have one at all.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2008-08-14 15:07
David & Chris,
Unfortunately it's pretty much limited to wind symphony programs. Occasionally the part is fun if the composer is more attuned to the alto. The old "war horse" pieces transcribed from the orchestral literature have some of the viola parts played by the alto. I've had the rare piece in the orchestra although one had a little solo.
I had a floor peg installed on my LeBlanc but it never had the security of the Buffet which is attached to the bell joint by a very secure mechanism. I'm thinking the Selmers do come with floor pegs although I may be thinking their basset horns. Oddly enough the LeBlanc basset horn does have a floor peg. Have always HATED straps, They have never felt secure. Don't use it on English horn either although my Rigoutat is lighter than most English horns.
Anyway, hurrah that we finally have an alto that lives up to the expectations of a horn in that range.
Eefer guy
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-08-14 15:09
Eefer guy, how much did you pay for it, out of curiosity?
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-08-14 15:21
David, assuming you were interested in asnwers from anyone and not just Eefer guy, then some players can choose what instruments to play so can play alto (or any) clarinet if they want. If I bought a good alto clarinet, which I'm considering, then I'd definitely play it in most of my concerts.
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2008-08-14 16:42
I ordered in December '07 so that price is what stuck. $8600. I see that it has gone up since then although I think the prices are better in Europe than here. Or at least what is listed seems less. Maybe they haven't updated the prices!
Yeah, as clarnibass has inferred there are actually a lot of people who do jazz alto clarinet and some of that is quite interesting. Have a couple of those recordings. Don't know if the Buffet lends itself more to that style ore not as that's not my area. My improv skills are limited!! All i know is that it has a lovely sound and plays in tune and the mechanism is well thought out.
From my dealer: apparently Buffet is making these to order rather than stocking them so I had an 8 month wait. You might get lucky if a dealer has one on the shelf. Maybe some of the bigger places do.
Eefer guy
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-08-14 18:12
When you're ready is there any chance you'll upload a sound clip? Even just a three octave scale or something?
I have long dogged the alto, so I would love to hear a good one played by someone who knows!
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2008-08-14 22:42
Nitai, I get from your posting that you were inferring some sarcasm in my question --- actually, for once, there wasn't any. I was simply curious as to what opportunities Eefer Guy has had to play alto clarinet. Of course we all are free to purchase and play whatever we want.
I gather that the majority of your own playing is solo work in which case you can play the didgeridoo, or contrabassoon, or whatever -- but those of us (such as myself) who play primarily in groups with 'standardized' instrumentation, e.g. concert bands, orchestras, jazz bands, and chamber groups, have little opportunity to play meaningful and/or important parts on the alto clarinet. Hence my innocent question.
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Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2008-08-15 03:41
Sounds like there's some alto interest out there. Maybe I should put my Selmer Paris up for sale.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-08-15 09:06
>> Nitai, I get from your posting that you were
>> inferring some sarcasm in my question
Not at all. I thought your question was serious and my answer was serious too. I just gave a possibility where a player can use alto (or any) clarinet a lot. Of course there aren't as many players in the situation I described as in orchestras, concert bands, etc. but there are more than a few and I thought it was worth mentioning.
>> I gather that the majority of your own playing is solo work in which
>> case you can play the didgeridoo, or contrabassoon, or whatever
I'm not sure what you mean by "solo work". If you mean (modern?) clarinet solo pieces, then actually no, I play very little music like that. I play music where the instrument is decided in advance too, but some of what I play could be, for example, a jazz or improvisation group where I can choose the instrument, or a someone (me or someone else) will compose the music based on the instruments I play, etc. This again just gives example of where someone could play alto clarinet.
>> but those of us
I assumed you meant to ask about all possibilties.
Best wishes David!
Nitai
P.S. I actually play didgeridoo but so far I've only ever used it in one piece 
Post Edited (2008-08-16 09:04)
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2008-08-15 11:33
Tobin,
I don't have the equipment to do the sound clip myself but some of my friends might. Still use an old tape recorder at home to assess my playing! Rather spend $$ on the horns themselves.
Last evening i was playing the Adagio from the Mozart Concerto on the new alto. It really sounded lovely, actually better than me doing it on the R13. Wonder if it was this sound when Mozart started to write this for basset horn? Anyway it was totally effective on the alto, giving me goosebumps! (Not often does that happen!) My thought was that it sounded like a lower A clarinet, with more beef in the lower register and more delicacy in the upper register. The other movements I would give the nod to the R13 but not by much and it may be me getting accustomed to the key arrangement. The extra Ab/ Eb lever wasn't on my old LeBlanc so I keep bumping it! I love it on the bass but on the alto it is quite a but tighter to the other LH keys so I'll have to learn to be more careful. The Weber Concertino also sounded quite good on this horn. It accomplished all the runs ands arpeggios with ease.
Am so glad this is turning out so well. The dealer who sold it to me described it as "Buffet's finest hour". Not too far off.
Eefer guy
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-08-15 12:49
I did read on here ages back that it was said that Buffet's deep clarinets tend to play more like sopranos in terms of ease and tone, whereas Selmers have more tonal weight - the Selmer bass being dubbed as a 'wooden bari sax' and the Buffet Prestige bass being dubbed as a 'large soprano clarinet'.
So maybe the same is true with Buffet altos.
As alto clarinets are a bit of a rarity in the UK and only a few concert bands have them (my local town band has two altos, so that in itself is indeed unique!), most players don't invest much on altos and tend to play plastic Bundys, old Normandys, wooden Noblets, a few pro Leblancs and even less Selmer Series 9 altos. I've yet to see a Buffet or Yamaha alto here.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2022-06-14 04:39
my advice if you want to actually get to use your alto -join a comunity band and just show up with it like i did. i didnt ask -i just showed up and said i was going to play it and give me what music you have. it turned out great and my first year went fantastic and i had a ball! parts were far better than expected and some a challange. i started with a bundy -then quickly bought a noblet really cheap on ebay and then splurged and bought a really mint selmer ser9 just overhauled for 2000$. what a great horn but not quite the buffet prestiege -which is peerless in my book. playing on a peg makes a HUGE difference and is worth what it cost to get installed. using legere reeds you will get the volume you need to be heard. make sure your set up allows a little + or _ at a440. this isnt a given on some instruments/mpc combo. best mpcs bets are the hite, vandoreen b44 and my fav selmer c*
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2022-06-14 12:49
super20dan's comment about community bands is totally true of my old community orchestra here. They would have welcomed a good alto clarinet with open arms. The conductor wrote the arrangements to fit the instruments and skill levels of the players he had, so he could quite easily have produced a long solo for an alto clarinet if he had a talented player available.
Eefer guy - is it possible that you have a webcam on your computer, or a cheap digital camera or a smartphone or anything? I record myself playing my clarinet with all of those and they turn out fine. If you're worried about sound quality you could play your R13 in the same clip to give us a sense of how much the sound quality is influencing things.
When I want to record from a webcam I just start the "camera" app on windows and it has a button to record video.
I'm very curious to hear it as I've never heard an alto clarinet before.
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