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ENDORSEMENTS
"It's easy to say great things about my Bell bassoon: it started out a
fine instrument and has bloomed over the 12 years that I have had it.
When Brian Pollard, former principal bassoonist of the Concertgebouw
Orchestra, first played my bassoon he exclaimed, 'Wow, you can really
make music on this instrument!' The sound is dark yet clear. There are
no crazy notes that are problematic when playing with other instruments.
It's easy to play phrases in tune without going through contortions or
compromise tone color to pitch the notes where I want them. It's stable
but not narrow and restrictive in pitch and sound. I won't put down
other makers of instruments that I've owned, as each instrument is
unique and one may search and search to find a great one. But with
practically every Bell Bassoon I've played (and I've played quite a
few), I've felt it was an instrument I could really make music on and be
myself with. They never confine me or made me work harder for the music
than I have to. But they can always take all that I demand of them. My
repairman loves working on them: they're so well made. He doesn't have
to fix things that the manufacturer should have corrected before the
instrument was sent out.
"It's impossible to talk about Bell Bassoons without talking about Bell.
Ben simply knows more about the bassoon than anyone I've ever met. He is
a masterful toolmaker and an artist with wood. He understands the bore
better than anyone I know. He has a great ear. He's a player. "How many
other makers can you say that about?"
Ken Munday
Principal bassoon with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
"I have played bassoons from Ben Bell exclusively for some years, and
have found them to be easily the best instruments available, period. I
am fortunate to have gotten one of the very first instruments (number
004, in fact) along with a more recent one, and I've spent the better
part of my career playing one or the other of these excellent bassoons.
They have served me well on literally hundreds of motion picture scores,
in addition to innumerable symphonic and chamber music performances and
recordings, and I can't imagine how much more difficult all this playing
would have been had I been playing on anything else. I believe Ben
Bell's work is in a class by itself."
Michael O'Donovan
(Studio Musician, Los Angeles)
I have been playing my Bell bassoon exclusively since the day I got it
seven years ago - it is a joy! There was no "break-in" or adjustment
period
necessary, and I comfortable and confident enough to play a concerto on
the
new horn after only 10 weeks. I immediately added my name to the
waiting
list for another, and I'm about to receive my new Bell! The tone is
remarkably even throughout, and the scale is so good that it eliminates
much
of the work with which most of us have become so familiar necessary to
play
in tune in the lowest register. It has good projection and is flexible
enough to integrate any and all subtleties that the player brings to the
music. The key work is superb and I've had basically no maintenance
issues.
Benson is a first-rate craftsman and brings a huge amount of knowledge
and
instinct to his work. I really don't miss the automatic sonic
personality
that comes with the quirky nature of many Heckels. It's refreshing to
have
an instrument that can go in whatever direction you choose. The Bell
bassoon
inspires me to sing. The gentleman's model without the extra metal band
is
as practical as it is unusual. I couldn't be more pleased.
Steven Dibner
Associate* Principal Bassoonist
San Francisco Symphony
My Bell bassoon, besides being beautiful, has a very warm and exquisite
tone, an easy answer and a very easy high register. I got the
instrument on a Tuesday afternoon, took it out of the case, played it
for a half hour and that evening played the whole Babier de
Séville opera with minimum adjustments (my other bassoon is a Heckel
#13000). As an orchestral player, I am really concerned with the
quality of soft attacks without compromising the general forte dynamics,
and the Bell bassoon I own matches these requirements. It is a pleasure
to play that instrument.
Richard Gagnon
Principal Bassoon, Orchestre symphonique de Québec
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