 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-03-12 21:27
Leblanc - (possibly others) make a "basset" clarinet in A - which looks like a very long version of our tried and true "normal" soprano A clarinet.
Has anyone played one of these beasts and can them tell me what they think of the tone quality or keywork - considering they have the extended range to low C (correct me if I'm wrong - and you will).
diz, sydney
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Author: A David Peacham
Date: 2002-03-12 21:39
You are 100% correct about the extended range.
Buffet and Selmer Paris also make them. Just about their sole purpose is to play the Mozart concerto and quintet in something approaching their original form.
I've never played one, and as a near-beginner my opinions wouldn't be worth a lot even if I had. But I have read that their extra weight is irksome, and that their response and tone quality do not compare favourably with the standard A clarinet. It's a shame - it would be nice if they were a replacement for the standard A instrument, but it seems as though they are not.
Have you ever seen someone using one to play anything other than the two Mozart pieces, rather than using an ordinary A clarinet?
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-03-12 22:09
diz -
I've played the Buffet, Selmer, Leblanc and Steve Fox models at the ClarinetFests, which is far from a perfect place to listen hard, but I have some impressions.
The original Selmer model, introduced about 20 years ago at the Clarinet Congress in London, was a disaster, even though it was designed by the great technician Ted Planas. It was clumsy, slow to respond and out of tune. It was so bad that Planas had it taken off the display stand after the first two days. Thea King recorded the Mozart Concerto and Quintet on it -- you can hear her struggling constantly. The more recent version is better, but it's still got the old Selmer glare in the sound.
The Leblanc is decent. At least you can play it. It's a LL model, with the plusses and minuses of that bore. I had no trouble playing it, but did have trouble getting a sound I liked.
The Buffet has the R-13 sound and decent intonation, and the keywork was reasonably light and quick, but at least the one I played (which presumably had been set up by Francois Kloc, who was there) responded slowly.
The Fox was I think a work in progress. (I played it several years ago at the ClarinetFest in Columbus.) It was very heavy and had a pad to rest on your abdomen so you could use the keys for the right thumb. He's now making extensions for existing A clarinets, which I haven't tried, as well as complete lower joints, which may have the bore fixed.
The problem with all the modern instruments is that they don't make the necessary changes in the lower joint bore, which is designed for an instrument going only to low E. There is an abrupt change to a coarse bass clarinet color between low E and the Eb below. The only modern instrument I've heard that doesn't do this is Sabine Meyer's Wurlitzer, which I've heard her play both live and on recording. Also, the weight of the instrument, the complexity of the keywork and the overall slow response make it unsatisfactory a full-time A clarinet.
By contrast, the speculative reproductions of Stadler's instrument minimize the problem. I heard Alan Hacker play the Mozart Concerto wonderfully at the Clarinet Congress in London 20 years ago, on, I think, an Ackerman instrument. Unfortunately, they were very nasty about preventing recordings, and the festival tape recorder broke down for that concert. I also heard Tony Pay play the Concerto live in New York several years back -- very much like the recording he made of it. I love the two Erik Hoeprich recordings on the "basset box" instrument he made. I've heard he's recorded it on a reproduction of the engraving Pamela Poulin found, with a pear-shaped bell, but I haven't seen it out in New York.
The balances and sonorities on old instruments are so different from any modern instrument recording that I haven't even considered getting a modern basset instrument, though when Steve Fox gets his extensions into production I may give in.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2002-03-12 22:16
There are a handful of other pieces for the instrument. From an Olympia recording, entitled "Mozart Reflections":
Sir Harrison Birtwistle, "Linoi for basset clarinet and piano"
Franz Xaver Sussmayr, "Concerto Movement in D for basset clarinet and orchestra"
By now, there may be a few other modern works.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: jez
Date: 2002-03-12 23:46
I think some Mozart operas also use the extended range of the basset-clarinet. Some modern composers have also latched on to the idea. I think I remember a piece by Thomas Ades which required one.
A friend of mine, who performed the Mozart concerto on one, got over the problem of the weight of the thing by having a spike fitted, that reached the floor while he was standing!
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Author: graham
Date: 2002-03-13 08:35
Re the reproduction original instrument versions of the Concerto also hear Lawson recorded on Nimbus label.
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Author: HAT
Date: 2002-03-13 19:16
Please god, don't let composers start writing for this instrument again. As a professional, I will say now as a professional that I will boycott any new work for an extended instrument. The Mozart is another story, but I don't see myself buying one just to play it (at least not anytime soon).
Frankly, the clarinet is hard enough without another register to worry about in terms of response and voicing.
These notes are easy to play and sound great and well in tune on both basset horn and bass clarinet. Let's please leave them for those instruments!
David Hattner, NYC
www.northbranchrecords.com
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