Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 12:58:37 +0200
From: Terje Lerstad
Subject: Re: [CB] IMDb: Lucien Cailliet
I am quite late in answering this discussion going on in may. It
is possible that the octocontraBASS was used in The Ten Commandments
(1956). The thing is that you probably would not hear it if it was used
to double the string contrabasses one octave lower (I played a piece by
Esa-Pekka Salonen with one fortissimo passage doubling in this way on a
contrabass clarinet. You don't get very effective ff on the 5th string
on contrabass).
The octocontraALTO made for Mission Impossible in the 70's was
owned by Caillet, and is reputed to be a STRAIGHT instrument. If it
went (only) to low Eflat, sounding Gflat, it would be possible to play
it sitting on a high chair.
But Philadelphia is quite far from where I live, so I can't find
out more. It should be in a museum with instruments from former member
of the Philadelphia Orchestra, but I can't find out anything of this
mueseum.
The octos formerly beeing in the office of Gérard Leblanc
in Paris, where paperclip models, and you could sit on an ordinary
chair. They go to deep C (written) , so The Guinness Book of Records is
wrong: The octocontraBASS goes to sounding Bflat, not C. Gérard
Leblanc is now retired, and I don't know how to get in contact with
him. According to the people at La Couture Boussy, the octocontrabass
should be in Musée d'Instruments in Paris and the octocontraalto
with Léon Leblanc's widow. But the museum says that the only
Leblanc instrument they have is an alto saxophone, and Mary
Leblan does not answer any letters.
What I don't understand is how these famous instruments just can
dissappear.
Terje Lerstad
Jonathan Carreira wrote:
>While talking with a Leblanc
representative at a conference I asked if he knew anything about the
current location of the octocontras. While he didn't know where
any currently were, he did say that the octocontraBASS was used on the
soundtrack to The Ten Commandments. Now, I bought the soundtrack
and can't hear any extreme clarinet. The liner notes even have a
section of "unusual instruments used in this soundtrack" listed.
It lists some bass flutes and some middle eastern instruments, but no
low clarinets. I wrote it off as the Leblanc rep not knowing what
he was talking about (he also said you needed to stand on a ladder to
play the octocontrabass and I'm pretty sure that's not correct) but now
that we see Lucien's name attached to the orchestration of that film,
I'm not so sure. Lucien, after all, was involved in the design of
all the Leblanc super low clarinets if I remember correctly. He
also, as we've recently been discussing, supposedly owned an
octocontraalto (although supposedly not a Leblanc; Leblanc didn't make
octocontraALTOs until the 70's). Maybe the octocontrabass was
used in The Ten Commandments after all. With the man who helped
design it, who i a low clarinet specialist as the orchestrator
and a Leblanc rep saying it was used on it, it is certainly
possible. Anyone have any other info on this?
>
>Jonathan Carreira
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 13:02:19 -0500
From: "Gregg Bailey"
Subject: [CB] Bassoon w/ "gentleman's style" bass joint?
Thanks to all who gave me advice on the Amati Low C Bass
Clarinet. I'm glad I asked you all, because I was eager to
purchase it. Now I don't think I will.
I also noticed on the Woodwind and Brasswind Amati section that
they sell an Amati bassoon with a "gentleman's style" bass joint, which
means that the bass joint is actually in two pieces so that the longer
piece is exactly as long as the wing joint section, and thus, the
instrument can fit into a smaller case. The image of the bassoon
looks beautiful, and I believe the price is $2995. Is this a good
deal? Do any of you have experience or knowledge of this Amati
Bassoon?
Also, why is this apparently the only bassoon model in existence
to feature this logical two-piece bass joint???
Thanks for any advice and info.
-Gregg
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 13:23:20 -0500
From: "Gregg Bailey"
Subject: [CB] Affordable Bass Flute!
Now that we've discussed the fact that the Amati Bass Clarinet
is actually what you pay for rather than a steal of a deal, I want to
find out if Woodwind and Brasswind's Jupiter Model 523S Bass Flute
(new) for $1795 is a good deal or not. One of the reviews says
that the key metal is very soft, and that there are no trill keys, but
that it is still great for the money. Any thoughts???
-Gregg
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 12:30:05 -0700
From: "Chuck Guzis"
Subject: Re: [CB] Affordable Bass Flute!
On 8/22/2004, Gregg Bailey wrote:
>Now that we've discussed the fact that the Amati Bass Clarinet is
actually what you pay for rather than a steal of a deal, I want to find
>out if Woodwind and Brasswind's Jupiter Model 523S Bass
Flute (new) for $1795 is a good deal or not. One of the reviews
says that the key metal
>is very soft, and that there are no trill keys, but that it
is still great for the money. Any thoughts???
My wife just purchased one as a "back-up" to play when she
doesn't want to take her Kingma or Kotato basses. She had to send the
first one back because of poor plating and workmanship problems, but
the second one was okay. She says it's not of the same class as,
say, Altus or Yamaha, but might be better compared to the old Artleys
or Mönnigs or even the non-Robert Dick Emersons.
I note that Jupiter for $900 more has introduced a model with
trill keys and a few more features. She hasn't had any experience
with these. I suspect that, with the new Jupiter out, the 523S
probably won't stay in the product line for too much longer.
Cheers,
Chuck
***End of Contrabass Digest***
