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Re: Yamaha CSVR review.

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2018-01-22 22:57

Eric, thank you for your review of the Yamaha CSVR. We need more reviews like yours in which players listen to one another in realistic acoustical settings and correct any false impressions their colleagues may have.

The main claims on this board for the CSVR have been 1) this Yamaha model is a great choice for serious students because of quality control, factory set-up, and price, and 2) this Yamaha model is a worthy replacement for well-selected, well-set-up Buffets among pro orchestral players. Your review seems to confirm the truth of the first assertion--the average CSVR plays better out the box than the average Buffet R13 and costs much less, and that is even more true for the clarinet in A--but it seriously challenges the validity of the second assertion. Doubtless we all hear sounds somewhat differently but I have no trouble accepting that the natural timbre of a good Buffet is more "luminous" than the Yamaha and the Yamaha is more "hollow."

Marcellus and others in the past have described the ideal clarinet sound as round like a pear but glowing with a flame inside. The Yamaha is certainly round but the flame or luminosity is generally weaker than in the Buffet. I think you can say the same for the Selmer Signature and Recital models. They are stable, rich, and even lush in tone but lack the glow of a great Buffet. If you get a chance to try a Selmer Seles Presence, please share your impressions of that model with us. I hear more luminosity in that model than in most of the other Selmers or the Yamaha CSVR and SEVR models.

Buffet clarinets at their best have a quality of radiant projection, transparency and luminosity that is probably unmatched in any other Boehm clarinet. Even the handmade S & S 1000--a wonderfully finished and lovely instrument--doesn't match the best Buffet sound to my ears (although it is reportedly copied from a Buffet).

The Yamaha CSVR is the best buy on the market now for players in college and serious high-school students. Orchestral players are going to decide for themselves what clarinets they need, since their living depends on their choice. Each new Yamaha model seems to be better than the last, so Yamaha may eventually find one that wins over most orchestral clarinetists. But that hasn't happened yet. Yamaha trumpets have been used in the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and they now make a flute model that some consider world class. Their clarinets may be headed the same way.

A few years ago, many were sure that the upscale Backun clarinets would become the orchestral players' overwhelming favorite. Today, that predication isn't even close to what's happened. Some outstanding soloists and a few great orchestral players have adopted the Backun but most still play Buffets. Predicting the future is always hazardous.

Post Edited (2018-06-09 00:57)

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Yamaha CSVR review. new

echi85

2018-01-22 06:48