 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Lorenzo_M
Date: 2012-10-15 11:40
hmmm. This sounds almost like a saxophone at times.
...this is not a compliment...
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2012-10-15 12:39
I actually like it, great phrasing and a really distinctive voice. You guys need to get out of your tiny boxes.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-10-15 13:33
French bassoons suit French music perfectly. The opening of Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' was written with the French bassoon tone colour in mind and also because those were the instruments played in Paris at that time.
I first heard French bassoons in a recording of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - while at first they sounded strange to what I was used to hearing (Berlin and Vienna Phil), I warmed to them as it was something unusual and rare.
Some major French orchestras have recently switched to German system bassoons, but others have remained true to the French model - some even having French system contrabassoons which are a rarity. I think this is a shame as although the German bassoons are more user-friendly, they are more uniform in tone and have a less distinctive voice than the French model.
Don't close your ears to different sounds that are becoming increasingly rare - it's a shame that orchestral sounds and that of each individual instrument is becoming universal which means the increased loss of regional identities.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2012-10-15 15:38
I'd be interested in hearing more french bassoon, especially the Rite of Spring. Can anyone find it online?
Also, does anyone know why the french bassoon didn't come to America like the french clarinet?
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2012-10-15 18:21
I have a late 50s/early 60s (I think) recording of the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra under Albert Wolff playing Tschaikovsky's 4th, with the French bassoons, and I love their sound in this performance. Very direct and pure (and their intonation is just fine).
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2012-10-15 18:58
I have feeling that Selmer have recently stopped making the French Basson - leaving only Buffet and they only make a handful each year.
Over 20 years ago I went to a concert in Paris played by The Orchestra de Paris - probably France's "top" ensemble - and all 4 bassoons on stage were already German.
Baremboim tried to force the Opera orchestra to switch to German bassoons during his short tenure there - fortunately they switched him first.
Long live the Basson - vive la difference.
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2012-10-15 22:23
Peter,
My main problem with this recording is not the player's tone. I just don't like that kind of overhelming agression at that small amount of lyrical passages. By the way my "tiny little box work" works very well for me. I call it <AESTHETICS> Ok, I know it's subjective, no flames please.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-10-16 01:10
He's playing a Buffet RC bassoon there - I bought one of them off eBay and found a further three extra solid copper crooks for it, so have four crooks in total. I use German reeds that have been bored out so they fit on the crook.
I wonder why they use solid copper for the crooks instead of brass or nickel silver? Selmer bassoons have a sax-style socket with socket screw and a corkless crook with the crook key mounted on the crook itself, whereas the Buffets have the crook key on the wing joint like German systems.
I last played bassoon when I did 'Seussical' which had a fair share of bassoon solos in it (doubling on clarinet, bari sax and flute).
What I don't really understand about bassoons is why they have an open standing whisper (or crook) key which has to be held closed - either by the thumb or LH pinky or with a crook lock (on German systems) when the crook key is only opened for far fewer notes than it's kept closed for.
I've seen a home-made reversed action crook key fitted to a German system bassoon which opens when pressed which makes more sense as it leaves the left thumb (on German bassoons) and LH pinky or left thumb (on French bassoons) free for every note it's not involved with.
On all other woodwinds with speaker or 8ve keys, we expect to only open them when we need to as opposed to holding them closed until we need them and letting them open under their own spring tension.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2012-10-16 01:27)
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Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2012-10-16 11:58
Here's the master of the French bassoon, Maurice Allard:
http://youtu.be/SC7TkRgGNCg
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
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