 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Eduard van derGraf
Date: 2002-06-24 04:27
I play clarinet in Holland and currently am visiting canada as a professor.( for the summer), I notice few players here in North America using the B40 clarinet mouthpiece, I was wondering who out there likes them? At the moment I have tried many American facings(Kaspars) but find the sound shrill in the upper register. I play RC clarinets and note not many of them around either? How many players out there like the B40, it seems something of an underdog on this side of the ocean....
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jbutler
Date: 2002-06-24 12:29
I, personally, have never tried the B40. I use a Greg Smith mouthpiece on one of my clarinets and use a Pyne on the other.
jbutler
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: eduard vanderGraf
Date: 2002-06-24 12:58
My clarinets are RC Prestige Bb and A and these are quite popular in Holland. The Reform Boehm is used a good deal is well in the area I am from(Hague) and many players are quite happly with the sound of the Boehm clarinet where once before all you saw was these Schmidt Reform Boehm which are still the main instruments in the concertgebouw orchester. My main teacher was in this orchestra and his name was bram deWilde. Very few players here use or like R13s, and this is not becuase of the workmanship but becuase the RC is more common and then one can blend more with a colleague...I have about 20 B40s which I like very much. If I could have someone make a handmande rubber copy of the one I personally use it would be quite interesting. I feel this set up gives good projection yet warm tone through the range(subjective feelings). I have not good success with closed mouthpieces and prefer the 1.19 mm tip of the B40, but its like the car one gets used too. I saw recent concerts of the Brabant orchester in Einhoven and notre they play on these type of set ups as well. In Holland we play above 440 and find the traditional american mouthpiece too low especially high in the upper clarion and altissimo...this is not that we don't like them but we have always tuned higher here. Saw a recent concert of Walter Boeykins and had no chance to ask him what he plays...probably something similar though...good clarinetiing, Eduard
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jack Chen
Date: 2002-06-24 14:41
I am from Taiwan, but currently live in the US. I've been using B40 for 12 years. I could never play those mouthpieces with a close tip opening. It's very interesting that B40 was first introduced by a Swiss professor who teaches in a conservatory in Taiwan who I used to study clarinet with.
My setup is Buffet Festival in Bb and A, B40-13 (for A440). I find this setup giving me pretty good projection, and fairly warm tone. However, I find my setup very different from all the other players here in the States. First, the Festival model is not widely used in the US, and secondly, I haven't met a player using B40, either...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: D
Date: 2002-06-24 16:03
I had been playing a B40-13 for over a year and just recently switched over to a Lomax A2. I find that it is less resistant and produces a warmer sound. I play an R-13 B and a Yamaha A clarinet.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Vytas
Date: 2002-06-24 22:26
Eduard......,
If you like the B40 stick with it. Sure, if you dream to sound like Robert Marcellus than get yourself a Gregory Smith’s Kaspar or an original Frank Kaspar of Chicago and...
Anyway, I play B45, which has the same tip opening and facing as B40. I like my B45 very much the problem is that any other B45 I’ve tried doesn’t sound as good as mine. After testing bunch of Chedevilles & Custom made mouthpieces I still love my B45. IMO it was waist of time. Stick with what you like.....V
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Eduard van der Graf
Date: 2002-06-25 12:37
Very interesting replies, yes I still listen to my old 33s of Cleveland which I listen with much admiration. These were Epic imports and the sound was better than the american CBS pressings I remember. A recent recording of the Janacek Concertino by Boeykins is my personal favorite record. I also like the Sinfonietta by Janacek with Ozwa in chicago on EMI. The B45 is also good and I used one of these for a while before switching to the B40 about 8 years ago. Has anyone heard Boeykins Mozart Quintet? It is quite nicely done. I also have quite a few Concertgebouw records with Szell as well....I believe he was a fan on the Concertgebouw orchestra and it was one of the few groups he spoke of with admiration.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2002-06-25 17:26
Eduard --
Although we all associate him with the Cleveland Orchestra, thanks for reminding us that Szell once conducted the greatest orchestra in the world -- the Concertgebouw.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Eduard
Date: 2002-06-26 04:06
Dear John: No problem, I also think highly of Berlin Phil as well as of the Cleveland.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Eduard vanderGraf
Date: 2002-06-26 04:14
One of my theories is that Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam which I have been alot also cotributes a great deal to the beauty of sonority, then to my surprise I saw the Concertgebouw play in England in a dry acoustic and the ensemble was just as uniform. But no doubt this orchestra is great becuase of the tradtion Mengelberg, Van Kampen and Jochum imparted. Haitink and Chailly are also very fine as well, and have made a special imprint on the orchestra. Try the recording on Philips of Beethoven 5 and Sibelius 2 under Szell and man is there alot of fire!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob Culbreth
Date: 2002-06-28 03:09
I've heard that John Mannase (sp)? plays a B40. I just spoke with Michael Lomax today about the B40 mouthpiece. He said his #5 facing is designed for those who like the B40 facing. I believe he is a sponsor for this board. He's very easy to work with.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
