Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-04-21 08:23
Before buying the Yamaha's I did test a lot of horns. One thing I knew for sure I was upset with Buffet. So I did test horns for a good 7 to 9 months. Even the Tosca. When I was asked by Yamaha to come in and try their horns at the California plant I was in a state of shock. The testing room was pretty much like sitting on the stage of Severance Hall in Detroit. Yes I've played there. Sound engineers built it. There wasn't a square point anywhere in the room. You could hear perfectly. Every clarinet I tested, not just the CSVR's was so much fun and every horn played so perfectly. The A clarinets are without hesitation the finest A clarinets to be made. They feel like a Bb. Free blowing, notes perfectly in tune on all of their horns. The CSG111 - German horns were so great. A straight bore. But they cost more. They can come gold plated.
The question wasn't asked, however I did very much like the Selmer Signature clarinets. The Selmer Recital or Recitalist, can't recall the exact name, was too dark. Reminds me of the Backun's. Very dense and heavy wood.
If Yamaha wasn't in the picture I would have still found a way to buy the Selmer Signature before the Backun horns because the sound carries so well.
I've said this before, we all have to be REALLY careful with the definition of "DARK" and not get confused with "DEAD."
I prefer using the word "WARM." The German players in the past have always had that warmer sound compared to the French sound. But now we are stuck in a weird position of WARM and DEAD.
So when picking out a horn we now have to watch out for dead, dark, horns, as well as dead, dark, mouthpieces. It is so confusing. You go to test a horn and you are in a music store with a room that you've never been in before. I promise you your chances of finding a really great Buffet are zero to slim. But you will walk out with a great Yamaha. 99 percent chance or higher!
Up close our ears play tricks on us. We sometimes think that amazing dark sound up close while practicing is that wonderful sound we've been looking for for all of our life, however in a hall you can't be heard in the 4th seat of symphony hall. Yes this is over exaggerated, but I kind of have to make a point.
I want to bring back that Marcellus and Harold Wright sound. We have Sabine Meyer. She has it and there are some others of course. But in general the clarinets and mouthpieces are going way too dark. Not WARM.
I was with Steve Barta this week having lunch, from the Baltimore Symphony, retired 9 months ago. We feel the same way. There are some players with very nice sounds, but these sounds are being taken over by what I've been talking about.
The clarinet sound is a bit off right now, but I'm not panicking. We all have to think all of the time about Marcellus and Wright. Listen often to how they filled the halls. But up close their reeds were sometimes a shade buzzy. The sound was still extremely beautiful, but not dark and dead. Slightly favoring the French sound for sure.
The Yamaha's are really good. The Selmer Signatures are also on track.
So I have issues with pretty much every mouthpiece on the market right now. Here is something interesting. The German Zinner mouthpieces are actually pretty good! But the French ones are a waist of money. (In general) The bores are too small and the baffles/ chambers are way too deep so we have dead notes on the clarinets and the horns are not live sounding. I can write forever about mouthpieces and the larger bores on horns, but I need to stop. The M Series Vandoren's play flat and are too long. The cost of custom mouthpieces is just wrong. The old mouthpieces from the 1940's through the late 1960's are still great. Meaning the Chedeville's and some of the Kaspar's from Chicago and Cicero. Frank Kaspar bought a lot of mouthpieces from the Chedeville company. These are good. I see on ebay old Selmer mouthpieces and other brands saying these are Chedeville mouthpieces. They aren't.
If we want that Marcellus, Wright, and Gennusa, sound go with the Yamaha's and search for great vintage mouthpieces. But don't spend more than $300. Avoid the Kaspars from Ann Arbor as they are a tad bright, but they can be adjusted if you get a really good deal. $150 or so.
Then you need that adjustment period. To train your ears to hear WARM instead of DARK.
I think in a few years the manufacturers of clarinets and mouthpieces will catch on to that temporarily lost sound and bring it back.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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