Ridenour Clarinets - Lyrique in A and B-flat

A review by Leslie Craven

I recently bought a pair of clarinets from Ridenour Clarinet Products. These were the “Lyrique” clarinets which are manufactured in China to Tom Ridenour’s specifications, shipped to Tom in America and hand finished by him.

I must admit I was sceptical about these instruments made in China from hard natural rubber. I work in the orchestra of Welsh National Opera as principal (Solo) clarinettist and these clarinets have been given a really extensive workout in the months I have had them and subjected to high profile engagements – even B.B.C. television performances. They came through with flying colours.

Let me expand on this:

I first performed with them in a schools educational concert and did not tell anyone I was using inexpensive clarinets made in China. No one noticed any difference in my sound or intonation except my 2nd clarinettist noted my intonation was slightly better in places. I normally use Leblanc Opus clarinets, the development of which Tom was involved in (and this most probably accounts for the superior tuning scale of the Opus clarinet).

Recently, I played a B.B.C. televised concert from world renowned Bryn Terfel’s “Faenol” Festival (which is outdoors) in which I had two exposed solos.  The first, “E Lucevan le Stelle” from Puccini’s “Tosca” and the second in the beautiful aria from “Samson and Delilah” by Camille Saint – Saens called “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix”. Both solos came across on the broadcast with fine projection, good intonation and excellent evenness of note size and a silky tone with sensitive inflections made easy because of the amazing flexibility of the Lyrique. I received a considerable number of compliments from colleagues and the General Director of Welsh National Opera (my boss). When I told the Director I was playing inexpensive rubber clarinets he could not believe it. (Formerly he was employed as General Director at the Metropolitan Opera and is a great friend and admirer of the playing of Ricardo Morales - so he knows a thing or two about the clarinet and how it should sound.)

The reader could be forgiven for thinking I must be on a commission for the sales of Lyrique clarinets. I was offered a generous sole dealership from Tom but I am not in the business of trying to sell clarinets or making profits ( I am far too busy playing to get rich!!). I honestly think these clarinets are great value for money and ideal for anyone on a budget who needs a professional level of sound and intonation from a pair of clarinets. I explored the possibility of using them simply because I needed a spare pair of clarinets to leave in my locker at the Opera house. I had experienced a lot of problems with cracking barrels and was very concerned my wooden clarinets may crack. I thought the rubber material ideal, being impervious to the dry atmospheric conditions in the Opera house (there were major humidity problems – the air was too dry lots of instruments were cracking) so I contacted Tom and he sent me a pair of the Lyrique clarinets to try.

I had previously bought an “Arioso” C clarinet (which I use exclusively instead of my wooden C) and found this instrument to be excellent. I was quietly confident that there would be little risk of disappointment in buying these instruments from Tom because he is a man of great integrity and very honest and also the closest thing to being a “genius” in clarinet acoustics.

There is currently a lot of concern about inexpensive imports made in China and in my opinion these concerns are justified. In the case of Tom Ridenour’s clarinets manufactured in China I must stress he has been painstaking to ensure that they are excellent value for money. Some Chinese manufacturers have been known for making inexpensive, low quality products, but conversely the Chinese are capable of manufacturing musical instruments to the highest levels of excellence, it is purely a matter of cost to the end user. If the end user would be prepared to pay as much for a Chinese - made clarinet as for a top professional model from U.S. or Europe I am convinced the Chinese would produce a superior product. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous entrepreneurs have flooded the market with really excessively inexpensive instruments (which have been made to a very low manufacturing costing to gain maximum profit) and I am concerned there is a danger that clarinets such as the instruments designed by Tom Ridenour will be “tarred with the same brush”.

The reason for this lengthy article is to dispel any fears these clarinets are of inferior quality. I have demonstrated they are capable of delivering professional results, quite impartially, putting my reputation on the line on world wide television to prove my point. If they had not been good I would have sounded inferior (– nothing could have been worse for my ego!!) – even my colleague Andrew Roberts Chairman of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain (who was playing 2nd clarinet on this occasion and whose opinion about all things clarinet related I respect very highly) commented on how fine the solo sounded and how surprisingly accurate the intonation was.

To say these clarinets are a better build quality than the leading makes would not necessarily be true and it is still too early to discover how the key work will stand up to years of  professional punishment. So far I have been very impressed, even with the key work. I have very acid skin and usually wear through plating very quickly so I took the precaution of coating the keys in clear nail varnish which will eventually wear but can be renewed – this is a good tip for those with skin acidity such as mine.

I found the upper register of the Lyrique to be the equal if not superior to my Opus clarinets in terms of quality of sound and intonation but the chalumeau not quite as rich as the Opus or some other makes of wooden clarinet. I chose to enhance the lower chalumeau by using different bells and have some Cocobolo “Backun” bells which really do add extra sonority and life to the lower register. The clarinets were tested using Brad Behn mouthpieces and checked for intonation on an advanced fine tuning programme designed by Alistair Logan, which measures notes in megahertz (not cents as on normal tuners) and is considerably more accurate. They proved to be more in tune than any clarinet I have tried. No clarinet can be said to be perfectly in tune and at best compromises must be made but the Lyrique has the closest twelfth and octave relationship of any clarinet I have tried. This comes with a small down side in as much as I found the low E and F (only in extreme piano or pianissimo) to be very slightly sharp (but compared to most clarinets that are usually flat in this area which have wider twelfths and octaves this is a tiny compromise and the benefits far outweigh this small inconvenience).

My only other small reservation was the thumb rest – I would urge Tom to design a really comfortable one and charge a little more for this. I changed the thumb rests to the Kooiman etude model (The original Lyrique design, although adjustable and positioned more sensibly than on most other makes of clarinet was still too low and uncomfortable for me personally).

To summarise, I will list the attributes I think most advantageous in order of preference.

1. Expressive playing is easy – there is less resistance in the bore (especially on the A clarinet) and this facilitates crossing all registers – no “bump” going over the third break from thumb  C to D. This also enables incredibly light staccato – I am playing them currently in Rossini’s “Cenerentola” and the fast, light, piano staccato is achieved with much greater ease than on wooden clarinets without loss of quality.
(N.B. the sound quality is a very slightly more cushioned sound than my Opus clarinets and the size of sound slightly less sonorous in the low register in particular but the upper register “sings” very easily and in some ways I prefer it to the Opus.)

2. Intonation, stability of pitch and evenness are a blessing. All of these things are essential to a professional player and the Lyrique delivers all of these qualities. I played in both hot studios and cold outdoors concerts – the Lyriques dealt with both situations in excellent fashion.

3. Weight – they are very light on the thumb and ideal for ageing professionals (like me) and young players alike, being considerably lighter than Grenadilla clarinets without corresponding loss of quality in sound.

4. Cost. They are easily affordable for most aspiring clarinettists and particularly for those young players who can only afford to buy one wooden clarinet but need to play in an orchestra and require an  A clarinet – a matched pair of Lyrique clarinets costs less (case and 4 barrels included) than one conventional professional model wooden clarinet.

I am not suggesting for one minute that these clarinets will be ideal for everyone – sound and personal preference cannot be ruled out but the plusses far outweigh the very few minuses when evaluating these clarinets.

If I am utterly candid I would say I still have a few reservations about the key work – not the design, which is very similar to the old style excellent Leblanc with “jump” R/H side trill keys but long term build quality. Nevertheless, at this price they offer a chance for those with limited budgets to own a pair of matched clarinets with superior tuning, evenness and superb sound quality over all registers.

For professional clarinettists the ease of staccato, facile high register and lighter quality of sound available at great ease especially in piano will be a terrific option for those like me having to perform a wide variety of styles of music from Mozart to Rossini, Berg and Macmillan. The Lyrique may not necessarily be my ideal choice for Tshaikovsky operas, but I would choose it for Mozart, Rossini, French music and certainly most chamber works, also for recitals with piano.

Principal Clarinettist Orchestra of Welsh National Opera
Author of the book - Instant Help for playing and teaching the Clarinet