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Re: Different Schools of Sound, over time

Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2008-09-01 12:18

I had the experience of switching away from B&H 1010 instruments a couple of years into my professional career, having played on them exclusively from the age of 13. Pretty clearly I didn't do that in order to be LESS expressive, so perhaps there is more to this subject than meets the eye.

I want to point out that there is a tendency on this BB to equate 'expressive' with 'individual', perhaps because of the rather unusual nature of the people who populate it. Of course, if you view music through the eyes of a clarinet aficionado, then you may well notice when a particular player is present in an orchestra; but it is a step further to say that your ability to do this easily constitutes a positive quality IN THAT PLAYER. A colleague of mine once proudly showed me a review in which it was said of him, "Whether it's Bach, Telemann or Mozart, you always know it's -------!" He was pleased, but it's not the sort of review that I'd want myself.

When I got my 1010s at 13, I was incredibly disappointed after the B&H 926 that I'd been playing for the previous year. 1010s had been touted to me by my teacher as the answer to everything, and buying them was a major outlay for my parents at that time. So I was quite unprepared for the discovery that I needed to play them in a quite different way. But, I settled down, years passed, and I was principal clarinet in the London Sinfonietta and in the RPO under Kempe before I found myself looking elsewhere for an instrument at the age of 24.

What I was looking for was the ability to vary tonal colour precisely, independently of pitch. As is well known, a narrower bore instrument is more stable pitchwise, so embouchure/address is less tied up with maintaining intonation. Another way is to go for a more German mouthpiece/reed setup on a wider bore (E. J. Albert), and over the years I tried both of these options on my long-suffering colleagues in the orchestra.

I was initially kicked into the Buffet camp soon after joining the RPO in a rather traumatic experience (the results of which you can still check out on the Verdi Forza del Destino recording with Gardelli, Carlo Bergonzi and the RPO). I had been experimenting with Buffet BC20s and a crystal mouthpiece in an afternoon orchestral readthrough prior to the beginning of the recording sessions proper in the evening, and was intending to switch back to my 1010s in the break, when the conductor said, "...so now, in the last half hour, we'll record the clarinet solo."

We had just played this solo in the course of our readthrough, and, not knowing the piece, I had been amazed at how extensive the solo is, and made a mental note to practise it thoroughly. But now, it seemed, I had to do without, and on a practically untried instrument.

Well, we got through it, though my colleagues had to practically carry me to the Indian restaurant afterwards. And then it seemed silly to try to switch, so I stayed with the Buffets for the whole opera, and then for some time after that, using various mouthpieces.

I have often thought that the differences between different styles of instrumental setup are more noticeable in indifferent playing than in excellent playing. That's because you FAIL in different ways on different setups; whereas when you succeed, what you're using is less evident. And since for me, playing expressively has more to do being true to my idea of the requirements of the music than with being 'different' from other players, then I'm happy -- if I play well -- to be relatively unidentifiable.

Tony

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