Next I noticed the Albert fingering system, which I could relate to simple system flute fingerings for the most part. As a matter of fact, in the chalumeau register the actual sounding notes match exactly, of course not counting the throat keys, left hand thumb and the bell notes. It took a little getting used to the little finger keys, which are different from the Boehm system, but the throat keys are identical. Granted, it takes adaptation for a player used to the Boehm fingerings, but the sound was well worth the effort. Tonally, it was warmer than I'd expect from a metal clarinet, and the horn spoke easily throughout its basic range, up to written high G, which is a D concert on this horn.
Turkish music is written from the staff note G, second line on the treble clef.
Although the music could sound in any key, this instrument could easily sound all the notes, including Phythagorean intervals, of Turkish music at written pitch and come out with the same note in concert pitch. I am of course referring to Turkish written music, not Western clarinet staff, where this horn would sound the written pitch a minor third lower. Indeed, the clarinet or high range note sounded with left thumb and all six fingers down is an A concert, and with the addition of the right little finger, a G concert, also the G serving as the basis for the Turkish modal system. One of the Turkish cassettes in the Lark catalog is Mustafa Kandirali Ile Neseli Gunler, and on the cover he is pictured with an identical clarinet to the ones we offer, and indeed the whole tape is playable on one of these clarinets. Unlike the smooth nearly vibrato free tone of the German symphony players, the Turkish sound is heavily inflected with a variety of vibrato, pitch bends, dynamic shadings, wild Asiatic sonorities balanced by whispering intimate passages.