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Re: Yamaha CSVR Bb and A

Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-10-28 22:24

I was pretty excited last night after writing to this board and found myself playing until about 7 AM this morning.

A bit more information. They use leather pads, so I was pretty nervous, not very excited at all, about the horns sealing and having leaks. To my relief. They are VERY tight and will hold a seal for 20 to 30 seconds. As some of you know and may remember I studied with Hans Moennig and felt that cork pads were the best and only way with the upper register. Well I have changed my mind. The leather pads somewhat warmed the sound. When I found the winning set the Yamaha's sounded as warm and sweet as the Buffets, with a better pitch. If Hans was alive today he'd be excited with these pads and very busy designing a perfect Moennig barrel just for the Yamaha's!!!

New Buffets out of the box, need $400 in repairs, because they leak so badly! Every Yamaha was perfect, ready to play, right out of the box.

Just a few comment from the posts above. I have to repeat this and I probably will have to continue to off and on. First off these horns are not dark sounding close up. Remember these words please - Close up. I'm not getting into mouthpieces and dark sounding mouthpieces and horns other than to say in a practice room they sound FANTASTIC. Trust me here. In Severance Hall these dark sounds won't carry, but a brighter clarinet sound WILL mellow out and sound warm after about 10 to 20 feet away. So sometime Dark is DEAD in a hall. Just be careful and have your friends, the conductor, lots of people hear you on these dark setups in halls with a full group playing, before you fork over a lot of money.

Bob Marcellus himself looked for reeds that were a shade buzzy sounding and a tad bright to him to his ear. Iggie Gennusa often turned on alarm clocks in his studio that would buzz so this would help him hear how he would sound and project in an orchestra. I still do this with the clocks when practicing sometimes.

I did NOT try the SEV horns. They weren't offered to me. Are they still being made? I very much like what I've heard on YouTube with gifted players using the SEV's. I'm probably wrong, but I thought they were discontinued. On youtube they sound fantastic.

Added to this issue of hearing darkness when we play is the newer flutes and oboes are made brighter so as clarinetists we CONNOT get drowned out or we will be looking for a new job.

I will finish with this, not all of the Yamaha's played great, but in general they all played well and I had a hard time, 3 to 4 hours of playing, finding the right horn for me and barrel combo. But the cool thing is EVERYTHING was at one place to find that perfect fit!

I completely understand how we all like different setups. Some will pay $29,000 for a set of Backuns and buy really dark Zinner mouthpieces. I'm Not saying you are wrong or right. Just test carefully. The Great Larry Guy said that Marcellus's sound vibrated all over Severance Hall. We know he had one of the finest sounds ever. However I'm putting myself out here by saying that Gennusa did. I heard both players. However it doesn't matter. I feel Gennusa had the edge, but who cares, they were both unbelievable.

Here is my point. I actually think and know that players today are technically better than Wright, Gennusa, and Marcellus. Double tonguing, triple tonguing, but no one in my humble experiences has their sound. It's lost. I feel it is the fault on the horns and the mouthpieces being made the wrong way. We need to bring this back. The Yamaha's can do it. They are that good and easier to play. Mouthpiece makers with major companies need to have players with GREAT sounds to make great blanks and instruments. Then we will soon see incredible musicians with super sounds. Better than the past? Am I wrong to say this. Well at the ClarinetFest I left the FEST angry, because I heard so many nice sounds, but IMO none of them were correct.

Compliments go out to John Bruce Yeh with the Chicago Sym who helped get me set up. Thanks John!

I don't want everyone to ditch their setups of course. But I do wish for everyone to look at the past and make the future better with great sounds.

Thanks for having an open mind and remember, what your ears hear up close isn't what everyone else hears. It's tricky. I did see about 2 or 3 months ago Ricardo, with the Philly Orchestra playing on a crystal mouthpiece. So even he is sometimes looking for something.

Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces

Yamaha Artist 2015

Post Edited (2016-11-19 11:15)

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Yamaha CSVR Bb and A new

Bob Bernardo

2016-10-28 13:09