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Re:

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2018-01-11 23:42

Many players would say that the German clarinetist Karl Leister has a fairly "covered" tone, at least on some of his recordings. This quality of damping some of the upper partials in the overtone profile is especially in evidence on Leister's famous CD of solo clarinet pieces. Listen to him perform this Caprice by Seutermeister:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Karl+Leister+Capriccio+for+Clarinet+A+Major.

Even more covered sounds (those with very little evidence of "reediness" or "edge") can be heard in recordings. One example would be Domenico Fiorinelli performing the same solo piece:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Domenico+Fiorinelli+Capriccio+per+clarinetto_solo.

Fiorinelli's recorded sound (I have no idea how he actually sounds in person) is pretty close to as "covered" as the clarinet timbre can get.

Some mouthpieces certainly are known more than others for their "covered" quality; that is they dampen the overtones that make the clarinet sound edgy. Nick Kuckmeier's Play Easy and Soloist models, both made in Austria, would be two well-known examples. At the other end of the tonal rainbow would be mouthpieces like the 5RV Vandoren and the B45 Vandoren, which have much more edge and require some considerable effort in reed choice, voicing, etc, to produce a covered sound. Certainly the physiology and tonal concept of the player can overwhelm the tendencies of a mouthpiece, and I have no doubt that some players could take the clarinet/mouthpiece set-ups from the hands of Leister and Fiorinelli and get a harsh, edgy bright sound out of them, but that would be atypical.

Post Edited (2018-01-12 00:50)

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