Author: seabreeze
Date: 2017-02-17 01:03
Franch-Ballester's tone is a deliberate work in progress. I've heard him in person many times, and in a master class he said he moved away from the ideal of an "ee" shaped tone toward more of an "O" or "Ah" shaped one. He said he has about 36 different mouthpieces and tries many combinations of mouthpieces and barrels to approximate the ideal sound he may be looking for in a particular composition.
I would describe his sound here in the Miluccio piece as cool, cushioned, round, smooth, even in all registers, liquid, and balanced. He, and not his equipment, is the driving force behind achievement of this sound. The Backun clarinet (grenadilla?), barrel (cocobolo?), the expensive high end Silverstein ligature and the reed, along with the Corrado crystal mouthpiece all provide elements in the overall blend. But it is his recruiting of all these material features and the way he forms his lips and voices the tone--as well as the smooth legato motion of the fingers and the exact positioning of the tongue that do the trick. No one element--certainly not the mouthpiece alone--is responsible for the overall effect.
Other, different sounds on the solo clarinet can be equally musical and engaging. Listen to German clarinetist Dirk Altmann, for instance, play the Kovacs Hommage to Debussy on his MK11 Josef clarinet made in Japan, This is a well-vented Boehm instrument that Altmann uses to get a more intense, centered, concentrated, rainbow-hued, luminous, transparent, perhaps "brighter" sound of some depth. Which sound is "better"? I don't know; I like them both, and many other kinds of clarinet sound as well.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kovacs+Hommage+Debussy+Dirk+Altmann.
Post Edited (2017-02-17 20:49)
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