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Author: Tom Henson
Date: 2008-05-26 16:21
Gentlemen,
I was also going to comment when Liquorice made that statement, but the quality of the recording would make such a judgment very difficult in my opinion.
The only real test I could do to try and get an objective baseline was to hold up a tuner to my speakers as he played. If this orchestra is tuned to A 444, then his B may be sharp by one or two cents at the most. Certainly not something anyone would notice in the audience.
While I wholeheartedly agree that it is the goal to have a clarinet that plays perfectly in tune, I have to say that this does not exists. Both the French and the German Systems, including the RB contain compromises in their design. While it will be possible to play in tune even 98% of the time, it would be a rare player that could play a clarinet perfectly in tune (with a tuner as you point out) 100% of the time.
As Menendez and I have tried to point out, tuning has it's subjective level and that it the human ear which is not going to hear a note the same way an electronic tuner will. It is my opinion that a good professional will understand this and realize that the ability to blend the character of the sound (read partials) is just as important as playing those notes in tune.
The basset clarinet that Bliss plays may be a Buffet (you can simply do a search on YouTube to find the videos using "bliss Mozart") and he is not necessarily playing out of tune, but this clarinet seems to favor the lower partials over the higher, thus it comes across with a duller sound which to the human ear may sound flat. I have a feeling that if you put his playing up to a tuner it would show to be in tune, but this is precisely what I have been trying to say. The way a maker designs the sound character of their clarinets affect whether they sound dull or bright depending on which partials they have designed into the bore, and thus flat or sharp. I personally do not like the way Bliss plays the Mozart and part of this has to do with his sound. It is dull and lifeless. He is very talented, no doubt.
While Fuchs may have some sharpness (debatable) on his German system Wurlitzer, I would sit at that concert and give him a standing ovation because it is so full of life and energy. The sound is so full of partials that the energy of it just radiates out, in spite of the poor recording. Imagine what this must have sounded like in person.
This is a perfect example of what I explained about how and why Fritz Wurlitzer redesigned the German clarinets back in the 60's and exactly why I prefer their sound over most French bore clarinets. As you go lower on a French bore, the sound gets very spread and sounds flat. On a German bore, the sound remains very tight and takes on tremendous, reedy vibration that just shakes you. Think of how a bass clarinet sounds. This is the sound character of German basset clarinet down low. This is very apparent on the German bore basset clarinets, although it appears that Wenzel is just playing on a regular A clarinet, but you still get that same sound character down low.
Another factor that must be considered is the difference in the two places that they played in. Bliss is playing in a very large auditorium in London and Fuchs in a smaller chruch or hall which quite a bit of echo. The clarient that Bliss plays does not sound well in such a large hall. Perhaps the mics were also not well placed. But the sound is just so dull and lifeless. To the human ear it comes across as flat.
Remember what I had mentioned about the human ear tolerating sharpness better than flatness. A little sharpness will not be disagreeable to the human ear so much as the same amount of flatness. I think this is an example of that.
I have had discussion with some directors about the effect of the size of the hall they are playing in. They all said it is better to tune sharp in a larger hall so that the "sound will carry" better and not sound dull. Again, this is a similar concept to what Fritz Wurlitzer did when he re-designed his clarinets. He chose to emphasize the higher partials so that the sound would carry farther in a large concert hall, like that used by Berlin at the time.
Trust me, unless you have perfect pitch, you are not going to care that Fuchs played a sharp B by a few cents. There is much more to performing than the goal of playing every note perfectly in tune according to a tuner. Being in the green does not always mean it sounds good.
Every professional I know will tell you that using an electronic tuner is good, but only up to a point. The concert is not played with each person having an electronic tuner on their stand trying to hit the green. Bleding of sound character is every bit as important as playing in tune and there is always a delicate balance between the two.
Tom Henson
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Menendez |
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Re: Problems with intonation in Wurlitzer Reform Boehm new |
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Tom Henson |
2008-05-26 16:21 |
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J. J. |
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The Clarinet BBoard
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