He wants to be able to play anything on the instrument for which it was written. I forget if he said he has a clarinet in every key, or is lacking something in G. (Is there anything?)
In addition to the ones you mentioned (by "great bass" I assume you meant the contra-alto) there is of course the Bb contrabass and the Eb alto. Also, the standard high clarinet in the early-mid 19th c. was in F (see, e.g., the Berlioz _Symphonie funebre et triomphale_). Above that there is the clarinet in Ab, mostly used in central Europe to play vn. 1 parts in band transcriptions, and one in Bb, now extinct, that used to be played in jazz sometimes.
There is (was?) a clarinet in high G that was a standard part of the Schrammelmusik folk trio in Germany and Austria. And there was a clarinette d'amour in (low) G that led a fitful existence for a few decades around 1800.
Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press http://www.kallistimusic.com/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
