Author: Djudy
Date: 2022-03-19 14:33
Thanks to JS Musique, the largest wind instrument store and sheet msuic source in Lyon (FR), and Selmer Paris, this afternoon we were treated to a presentation of the Muse by Selmer and a concert featuring François Sauzeau (solo clarinet Orchestre National de Lyon), Yoshua Fortunato (solo clarinet Orchestra of the Opera National de Lyon) on Bb and A Muse clarinets and accompanied by the ONL rehearsal pianist (sorry didn't catch his name).
It was a privilege to visit with with Sauseau before the presentation/concert and listen to him casually follow his whims, producing one delightful excerpt after another on that beautiful sounding instrument. He played the Bb and A with the low F, E correction key and demonstrated its' noticeable effect on tuning. Still, Fortunato played a Muse without the correction key and managed just fine. Both played their personal instruments.
I learned that the Muse was in development over a four year period, arriving on stage last fall and that Sauzeau was very actively involved in the project, making many trips to Paris, despite covid restrictions, to follow the work, tone hole by tone hole. He said he'd have liked a project that changed the tone hole placements but this time the constraint was to keep the traditional spacing and still create a new instrument. According to the Selmer presentation, the resin lining of the upper joint before final reaming, along with the slightly smaller bore dimensions, makes for a fast free air stream through the instrument and protects from cracks forming. The wood is now all traceable from the stump to the instrument which is marked as such.
So I got to try the Muse ! For the little I am able to do, two things stood out :
The instrument is incredible even, all the notes sound the same way, clear, strong, in tune. I attribute the slight paling of the Bb4 to my poor air support and poor technique more than to the instrument. I felt very reassured playing it.
The keywork is very comfortable and natural , including the extra Eb lever. I have that on my RC Prestige and the overall key grouping including that key is more confusing than helpful for me but I had no problem with the Muse, admittedly on a very short try.
The instrument was easy to play and has a sweet not too moody not too edgy character. It has a wide and stable dynamic range and can have a huge sound when needed but does not go shrill when pushed, as Sauzeau's noodling demonstrated and my listening at his concerts confirms more than my test play could. It was a bit resistant compared to what I am used to but I wonder how much is my lazy bad habits and the mp I used, but it was not unpleasant and I felt the instrument just needed more from me, not the other way around. I liked that feeling. I wish I had brought a couple of mps to try but grabbed the Larry Combs off my silver Selmer at the last minute so it was perhaps not the best choice. Fortunato was using a Vandoren B45lyre and said it was a piece of cake to play. I felt it was an instrument that could easily encourage me to progress as I got such pleasing results when I put myself into it, especially since the eveness was so noticeable.
One attendee purchased a Muse after trying several different clarinets during the afternoon. We listened to a blind test between a Muse and a Privilege (my pref fell to the Muse) and he was hesitant but left with the Muse in the end. I play Bb so little these days that I can't really can't afford or justify the purchase, but when all the covid dust settles I will make an appointment at the Selmer workshop in Paris for a better organized test session while getting some work done on my alto. We shall see. Nice to have things to look forward to !
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The Clarinet BBoard
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