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Re: Boosey & Hawkes Clarinets

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2010-04-22 00:34

I have a somewhat unique experience. As a novice clarinet player MANY years ago, I fell in love with the sound on a recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto played by Gervase DePeyer. It took just a little research to find out that he played Symphony 1010s and it became my mission to own a pair.

So at about my third year of playing I made this happen. The funny part is that I am a mid-western American. The Boosey "sound" is considered anathma by your well respected Franco/American players. Even though I was shunned by my peers in-the-know, it was my mission to make this work. It became apparent that the "sound" is attributable to the style one imposes on the horn as much if not even more than the horn itself. One hallmark to the approach is to form the interior of your mouth as if you are saying the sound "AHHHHHH" (as you would for your doctor). Another aspect is to be amenable to using vibrato in a classical setting.

By the time I hit college there was too much peer pressure (and TEACHER pressure) to change and I caved in to the siren sound of the Buffet R13.

It is safe to say though that the Boosey (large bore) 1010 can have a more plastic (that is "flexible") sound without getting thin like its American counterpart in sound (for instance Richard Stoltzman). The great players of this style are Gervase DePeyer, Reginald Kell and Jack Brymer (to name the latest and most poignant examples of the 1010 style).

The problem with this sound is that it can be too diffuse to be as effective in a full orchestral setting as the French or French/American style of playing. Of course I would hasten to add that I am still a "fan" of the most traditional versions of this "British School" of playing and only cast a comment to the other side in the spirit of being "fair and balanced."

...............Paul Aviles

Post Edited (2010-04-22 00:39)

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Boosey & Hawkes Clarinets

Jenny Brand

2009-06-18 15:23