"THE WURLITZER REFORM-BOEHM CLARINET IN AMERICA"

by Charles Stier

It is both my privilege and pleasure to be the first professional American clarinet soloist performing on Reform-Boehm system clarinets by the great German master clarinet maker, thelate Herbert Wurlitzer of Neustadt an den Aisch, West Germany.

At the suggestion of James Gillespie, Editor of "The Clarinet", this article will be a discussion of the Reform-Boehm system Wurlitzers as compared to the Buffets that have been the standard clarinet-of-choice by the top professional classical clarinetists
in this country for the last half of this century--and the reasons why I decided to change.

Playing the clarinet professionally has always been a matter of obtaining a balance of tonal beauty, technical facility, consistency and sufficient power. The answer always lies in the combination of the tonal character of the instrument itself, the technical adjustment of the mechanism, and the subsequent matching of the mouthpiece and reed to the system. As we all know, the generally accepted understanding of how a clarinet was supposed to play and sound was changed drastically at the end of the 19th century. At that time the great French clarinetist and teacher H.E. Klosé persuaded L.A. Buffet to re-design the clarinet around the fingering system of the flute made by
Theobald Boehm. At the heart of this decision was the unfortunate sacrifice of tonal quality for technical facility.

From that time until now, the problem that has plagued every classical clarinetist using the French system has been 1.) how to obtain a lyrical and dark sound, and then 2.) how to retain its integrity and beauty at the louder dynamic extremes. This problem is especially relevant in today's professional concert world of 2500-seat concert halls, nine-foot Steinway grand pianos and modern orchestral forces.

Our present-day notion of clarinet playing stems from the teachings of the great clarinetists occupying the major symphony orchestra chairs in post-World War II America. These gentlemen were generally Western European by birth (for example, Daniel Bonade and Gino Cioffi). Naturally, this generation brought their French instruments with them to this country and passed their tradition down to their students. (During and after the war, French-designed clarinets were also the only type available for purchase in the USA. Soon thereafter, Buffet established a dominant position in the market and the mentality of clarinet playing in America.) Their students (for example, Robert Marcellus and Harold Wright), and the next generation of professionals (for example, David Shifrin, Larry Combs and Richard Stoltzman) also play on Buffet clarinets.

Assisting many of these great players in attempting to overcome the problems imposed by their instruments and in the center of these issues stood one of the most influential figures in 20th Century American wind playing--the great repairman W. Hans Moennig of Philadelphia, PA. The particular genius of the late Mr. Moennig's long and remarkable career is a threefold legacy for clarinetists. First, he had an uncompromising ability as a mechanic to achieve absolutely precise and economical motion on every key combined with perfection of spring tension to achieve sure yet sensitive action. Second, he invented the use of cork pads to totally seal the upper joint providing instantaneous response and increasing vibration. Next, he realized that the bore of the barrel could be re-designed (from a straight tube to an inverted cone) to provide more resistance
allowing for a more powerful reed and mouthpiece design. (A by-product of the "Moennig Barrel" was the improvement of the intonation in the altissimo register and throat tones.)

The two tremendously successful and classic combinations of mouthpiece/reed/ligatures that resulted as a completion of the Moennig Barrel/Moennig-adjusted Buffet clarinet system were the Henri Chedeville mouthpiece/Vandoren reed/Buffet ligature and the
Frank Kaspar/Morré reed/Daniel Bonade Inverted ligature combination. In my opinion, and by abstraction the opinions of such orchestral conductors as Leopold Stokowski, George Szell, Charles Munch and Eugene Ormandy, this is what has been regarded as the state-of-the-art equipment in the middle to late 20th century USA.

So why look for a change? The answer is that times have changed: Mr. Moennig and Mr. Kaspar have died and Herr Furstel, the maker of Morré reeds, has retired. Those few of us who have been fortunate enough--and young enough--to have understood and
benefited by the excellent work of these three gentlemen must now bear the responsibility of coming up with a viable, modern solution regarding the choice of mouthpiece/reed/ligature/clarinet combination that will carry on and further the ideals
and traditions of musicianship and craftsmanship of our mentors into the next century.

As if this wasn't enough, what about the dark and lyrical sound of the German clarinet that we all admire? A re-examination of what we have all taken for granted to be the basic quality and nature of the sound for the clarinet since the time of Klosé is what led me to the clarinets of Herbert Wurlitzer. I subsequently learned that the Wurlitzer family had been making the best German-system clarinets for five generations. Speaking
as an American clarinetist trained on Buffet/Moennig/Kaspar/Morré equipment I felt that the German system mechanism too slow, the fingering system too clumsy, and was personally unable (or unwilling?) to adapt to the mouthpiece/reed/embouchure
combination. This led me to Wurlitzer's Reform-Boehm system instrument. (The design and building of Reform-Boehm system clarinets is actually a continuation of work begun by Mr. Wurlitzer's father.)

In my opinion, this clarinet is the perfect combination of the beautiful German sound with the fast French fingering system--and it has power. But why have there been no Reform-Boehm Wurlitzers in the USA so far? Of course, the first answer is "tradition". The next reason might be that Mr. Wurlitzer was also not able to immigrate to West Germany until 1959. (Until that time, his family was located in what became East Germany at the conclusion of the war.) The next difficulty might be in actually obtaining a set of Wurlitzers. Mr. Wurlitzer spoke only German and all conversation and letters needed to be in German if you wanted to do business with him. He also had, and the firm still has, a
waiting list of about three years. To push the production schedule any faster would compromise the quality of craftsmanship--which they absolutely will not do. Another reason is that unless he could be convinced by the individual player that he will commit to understanding the sound of his type of clarinet, he had no desire to see one of his instruments leave the door of the shop.

Another reason might be the cost. The price you can expect to pay for the pair is about $10,000 (give or take a little for customs fees and fluctuations in the exchange rate)
payable in German marks. Of course, this does not include overseas telephone calls and the trip to Neustadt an den Aisch to pick them up and to pick out your mouthpiece. Don't forget to figure in the cost of the work of customizing of pads, springs, undercutting, etc. that will be done by a master repairman--such as William Brannen of Evanston or Paul Covey of Baltimore--after you break them in when you get back home. The final price tag will be about $15,000.

A possible objection might be that the uniquely different sound of the Wurlitzer does not blend successfully with the sound of the Buffet. As a soloist this is not a particular problem. However, it would initially seem to be a problem in the clarinet section of an orchestra unless all of the players converted simultaneously to the Wurlitzer. (Also, as the orchestras in Germany have established, the sound of the German system Wurlitzer is different enough from the Reform-Boehm system Wurlitzer to prevent the truly successful blending of those two instruments within a section.)

But the main difference for the player lies with the mouthpiece and reed. Mr. Wurlitzer makes his own mouthpieces since the bore design of his clarinets is so different. French-
design mouthpieces simply will not work from either the standpoint of sound or intonation. The mouthpiece made by Frank Kaspar of Chicago (Facing No. 13) that had been the basis of my playing was completely inappropriate on the Wurlitzer clarinet. So like it or not in the beginning, to play a Wurlitzer clarinet is to play a Wurlitzer mouthpiece. Mr. Wurlitzer has several facings in three different styles: Short (Kurz), Middle (Mittel), Long (Lang) and also a Viennese style facing. I chose a mouthpiece that was immaculately in tune, had a sound that strongly appealed to me and had a facing that I instinctively felt that I could get used to. My mouthpiece is his most "French" design--the K4--which is still closer at the tip and longer in the facing than any French mouthpiece. This means a readjustment of embouchure. It also means a very big change in reeds and adjustment techniques. I had been playing Morré #2&1/2 12.5 German Cut Reeds, which are the smallest of all reeds designed for French mouthpieces, but which would not even fit on the Wurlitzer. What works for me is the new Vandoren German Cut #3&1/2 reeds which are much smaller and of a completely different design contour than the Morre reeds. This took quite a bit of time and experimentation to understand and systematically work out.

On the Wurlitzer the hand position is smaller and the feel of the keys is very much different from the Buffet. It took many months of practice not to slip off of or miss various keys because of the automatic hand position ingrained by 20 years of playing on Buffets. In the altissimo register you must also relearn a number of fingerings. (It is not within the scope of this article to deal with the acoustical, technical or mechanical differences and innovations between the Buffet and the Wurlitzer). In addition, the Wurlitzers require a lot more air to play than the Buffet due to the resistance of the bore design.

So to obtain a set of Wurlitzers, you must speak enough German; convince the Wurlitzers to make them for you; wait for three or four years; make the trip to Germany whenever they say your instruments are ready; pay at least five times the amount
you would pay for a set of Buffets; and then adjust to a new mouthpiece, reed, fingerings, hand position and embouchure when you get home. Is it worth it? My answer is an unequivocable yes.

As a professional musician searching for equipment that will produce the most beautiful, relevant and consistent performance when played in the most straightforward manner, I am more concerned about obtaining results than with theories, brand-names, technical discussions or traditions. In this light, the advantages of the Wurlitzers grossly outweigh the objections.

The sound of the instrument is uniquely beautiful and immediately identifiable. As a soloist this is extraordinarily advantageous. (It is also my opinion that whatever orchestral clarinet section that has the insight and wherewithal to switch will immediately gain a sound that will stand out from every other orchestra in the USA today.) The Wurlitzer has a combination of greater power, darker timbre, focus of sound at dynamic extremes and palate of colors than the Buffet with any mouthpiece. The intonation is excellent, the legato is impeccable and the upper register is far easier to play. It sings.

As to the differences in embouchure, mouthpiece, reed, air, hand position and fingerings, my answer is to practice. As to the price, my answer is to pay it. (In the search by every concert musician for the highest quality of artist-level instrument we have nothing to complain about. New Steinway pianos sell today for $30,000 while Stradivarius violins are fetching $250,000 and 'cellos go for $1,000,000 and more). In my opinion, the Wurlitzer Reform-Boehm clarinet is the leading instrument of our time for the extremely dedicated professional clarinetist who is willing and able to undertake whatever is
necessary to obtain the highest caliber of musical results.

Learn more

return to top