 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-11-19 23:51
As far as I know, there exist few players of the oehler clarinet outside of Germany and Austria. There was a time when quite a few players from Central European countries played them: Russia, Hungary... Yet this kind of clarinet has some incomparable qualitities. I don't think Karl Leister could have produced his tone on a Boehm clarinet. A few names of non-German Oehler players please. did they convert to it or was it their original instrument?
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: lmliberson
Date: 2025-11-20 00:12
Michele Zukovsky, LA Phil (retired). She switched from Boehm to Oehler in the 1970’s in the midst of her career with that orchestra.
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Author: mddds
Date: 2025-11-20 02:04
are we looking for professional player names in this discussion?
-CK
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-11-20 02:21
Frank Cohen had a dalliance with them and ultimately determined they were not what he was looking for. Marylin Bass of the Grant Park Symphony (and Lyric Opera?) played them for a year or so to perform the Mozart Concerto on basset clarinet back in the 70s when Wurlitzer (et al) where the only source for basset clarinets. I played on a pair of 100Cs for about 12 years.
I'd say that half "the sound" does reside within the acoustic of the horn, BUT the all important second part (particularly speaking of Leister's sound) lies with the mouthpiece/reed which at the time was traditionally a small tip opening, long facing (twice what French use) and..... A SOFT (#2 1/2) reed.
For me, the switching back was more about the mouthpiece/reed. I found out about the soft reed part much later, after abandoning the Oehlers. It would have helped to have known that last part before switching back, but I think because I spent most of my playing years on Boehm, that was just the most comfortable way to go in the end.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-11-20 10:32
Paul: Did you find that you obtained that "German sound" on a boehm clarinet by using a German mouthpiece and German reeds? Do people that play boehm-reformed clarinets use German mouthpieces on them?
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-11-20 17:54
I believe there are mouthpieces that are specifically made for Boehm Reform, but a standard German mouthpiece works just fine.
You can use German mouthpieces on Boehm clarinets. There is a playing accommodation that needs to be made for the altissimo which can run a little flat. I believe this is caused by the length of the German mouthpiece being actually longer than Boehm (both the diameter and total internal volume are smaller).
Getting the German mouthpiece to fit on a Boehm barrel is fairly simple in that the German tenon is only slightly fatter and slightly longer (by about 1.00mm each). The Gleichweit D4-2 is very close to the Wurlitzer M3+, but uses various sized (replaceable) o-rings in place of cork, and the tenon can fit a Boehm with NO modification.
I would say that you can sound a bit "German adjacent" with the mouthpiece and a 2 1/2 strength Vandoren White Master Traditional reeds.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2025-11-20 20:23
The Slovenian Blaz Sparovec won the 2019 Nielsen competition playing wonderfully on German system - though YouTube shows him playing Boehm instruments earlier in his career, so it seems he switched.
I don't know if this counts under Ruben's original question, since "Oehler system" strictly means an instrument with the double vent actuated by a plate for the middle RH finger. But plenty of non-Boehm clarinets have an open finger hole rather than Oehler's plate, so would rather be described as "German system", or indeed "Austrian system", since I don't believe Oehler-style instruments are used e.g. in the Vienna Phil.
So while Michelle Zukovsky did indeed play Oehler system, Sparovec doesn't quite.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-11-20 22:31
Maybe we should say......."ie Wurlitzer, Hammerschmidt, Gerolds"
................Paul Aviles
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Author: m1964
Date: 2025-11-24 19:27
I know a player who is using a Vandoren German MP on a Buffet R13 and has wonderful tone - soft, full, sort of in between French and German.
The tenon on his MP is one mm too long for the barrel.
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Author: ClarinetVirtuoso
Date: 2025-12-12 02:05
I play a pair of Wurlitzer Oehler system clarinets for certain concertii and find switching between them and my Orsi Classic 3/4 boehm clarinets no problem. My professor in Melbourne - Phillip Miechel - who was the Principal Clarinetist of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and who studied with Jost Michaels and Dieter Klocker, made a beautiful, German like sound, round, clear and with fantastic articulation all on a pair of Buffet Prestige clarinets. He deserves to be much better known than he is. He is 84 now and still teaches. There is a recording of him on You Tube playing the Mozart concerto which has been recorded by a member of the audience on a high quality recording device and reflects Phillip’s sound and technique.
I recorded many of his broadcasts but sadly there were not really good cassette recorders back in the 70’s when I was studying with him. It is still a mystery to me why his many recordings for ABC in Australia have not been released as a CD as they are brilliant, perfect and beautiful. His recording of the Szalowski Sonatina is wonderful and there are many others including the Johann Stamitz Concerto.
Phillip is a master musician and taught me everything I know. I am going to Melbourne to visit him and am looking forward to seeing him again.
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