We wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
www.DoubleReed.co.uk
www.DoubleReed.co.uk
Showing posts with label double reed ltd.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label double reed ltd.. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Merry Christmas
We have been so overwhelmed by the support we have received in the past year that we decided to commission this Christmas painting to say thank you! Painted by our own director, Alison Ludlow, this little Santa is really worn out :)
Thursday, 15 November 2012
A Treasure of Rare and Interesting Bassoons at the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Weekend 2012
Double Reed Ltd. exhibited at the Royal Northern College of Music Double Reed Weekend on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th November 2012 just gone, in Manchester, UK. It was lovely to meet so many bassoonists and to hear some beautiful bassoon playing.
We are a specialist bassoon company and as such we had some unusual and rare bassoons to show off on our stand, which caused much intrigue and delight. To start with we had three Heckel bassoons on our stand which, perhaps not surprisingly, were tried by most of the professionals and students at the event. Many students had never before had the opportunity to play on a pre-1945 Heckel, and so this was a rare opportunity to see for themselves how beautiful these bassoons really sound. Needless to say, all three Heckels are now reserved for customers to try on approval.
We also had a Soulsby bassoon, made by the British maker Jeremy Soulsby in 1988. Soulsby made about 80 bassoons, which gained a world wide reputation for their sound and quality, and then he retired and never made another bassoon. We have Soulsby bassoon number 41 in stock - a very rare instrument, in perfect condition, that produces a delightful sound.
Another special bassoon we had was an Ernst Riedl, made in about 1940 (a dark coloured bassoon pictured on a stand at the far end). Some of the professional players at the day (BBC Philharmonic and others) had heard of Riedl bassoons but had never actually seen or played one. The sound of this instrument is astonishingly rich and even throughout. I am an Ernst Riedl player myself, having an identical instrument with a close serial number, and I am a huge fan. Famously, Will Jansen was a Riedl player, writer of the well known five book anthology 'The Bassoon'. He is photographed with a Riedl bassoon just like this in his book.
You can see all these bassoons, plus many others, on our website here:
www.DoubleReed.co.uk
A special hello to everyone who was there on the day!
We are a specialist bassoon company and as such we had some unusual and rare bassoons to show off on our stand, which caused much intrigue and delight. To start with we had three Heckel bassoons on our stand which, perhaps not surprisingly, were tried by most of the professionals and students at the event. Many students had never before had the opportunity to play on a pre-1945 Heckel, and so this was a rare opportunity to see for themselves how beautiful these bassoons really sound. Needless to say, all three Heckels are now reserved for customers to try on approval.
We also had a Soulsby bassoon, made by the British maker Jeremy Soulsby in 1988. Soulsby made about 80 bassoons, which gained a world wide reputation for their sound and quality, and then he retired and never made another bassoon. We have Soulsby bassoon number 41 in stock - a very rare instrument, in perfect condition, that produces a delightful sound.
Another special bassoon we had was an Ernst Riedl, made in about 1940 (a dark coloured bassoon pictured on a stand at the far end). Some of the professional players at the day (BBC Philharmonic and others) had heard of Riedl bassoons but had never actually seen or played one. The sound of this instrument is astonishingly rich and even throughout. I am an Ernst Riedl player myself, having an identical instrument with a close serial number, and I am a huge fan. Famously, Will Jansen was a Riedl player, writer of the well known five book anthology 'The Bassoon'. He is photographed with a Riedl bassoon just like this in his book.
You can see all these bassoons, plus many others, on our website here:
www.DoubleReed.co.uk
A special hello to everyone who was there on the day!
 |
| Oliver Ludlow - Director and Bassoon Specialist at Double Reed Ltd. |
Friday, 24 February 2012
Ernst Karl Riedl - Mystery bassoon maker?
Hello and welcome to the official Double Reed Ltd. bassoon
blog. The aim of this blog is to share my thoughts on a number of bassoon
related topics. Hopefully these will be of use to those of you interested in
bassoon playing! Your feedback and comments are welcome.
As a director of Double Reed Ltd., I get the opportunity to
regularly try out different bassoons by different makers, and I will partly use
this blog to give feedback on the particular bassoons I try. We currently have
a 2008 Fox 201D professional bassoon, which I am looking forward to unleashing
at an orchestra rehearsal soon.
My own bassoon is a pre-war instrument made by Ernst Karl
Riedl (1896-1967). Riedl was trained as a bassoon maker at the Kohlert factory
in Graslitz, but he set up his own manufacturing business in 1924. He ran a
small workshop, making only one or two top quality bassoons a month. By doing
this he was able to make bassoons to the highest standard without going into
competition with Kohlert, who were making bassoons on a larger scale. Under the
Riedl name he produced bassoons between 1930 and 1945.
I use a post-war Heckel CC2 crook, which has been cut short
at the large and lengthened at the reed end. This is peculiar! But it seems to
like my bassoon. The key-work is original and quite basic by modern standards
(no high D key etc), so it takes a bit more effort to play, but it has a
beautiful sound and I think well worth the effort. It plays well in tune, has
excellent projection for a pre-war bassoon, and most of all has a richness of
sound that rivals the finest pre-war Heckels.
If you own a pre-war Ernst Riedl bassoon, or have some
information about pre-war Riedl bassoons that I have missed, or have a
question, then please feel free to comment!
You can see a picture of my pre-war Riedl bassoon here:
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