The Tosca was first released in 2004, as Buffet's top-of-the-line clarinet, and pretty much immediately took off. Super popular for a long time (and still is). It is technically part of the "R13 family" of bores, but the bore in the bottom joint of the Tosca is narrower than the R13. The idea here with that bore change is a tighter core to the sound (a.k.a., "focus") and more stability in the clarion and altissimo registers. The Tosca's narrower bore on the bottom joint has an effect on the low F — you'll notice the addition of a second F key (right pinky) to correct for it. You get used to it. The Tosca pushes back more than an R13. If you're using (or planning on using) the same mouthpiece you like on an R13 with this instrument, you might want to consider opening up your setup a bit. Metal-capped tenons help reduce cracking — Buffet's nod to "okay, stable Grenadilla isn't as easy to find as it used to be." Resistance: 7/10, Medium-Heavy Because of the bore changes, the instrument feels more resistant than the R13/Festival/RC line of clarinets you may be familiar with. If you are used to a closed setup with hard reeds, you might want to consider a more open mouthpiece and lighter reeds. Otherwise, when you try this, you'll think "damn, this is hard to play" — and you'd be right. But with a more open setup, you will think "damn, this is easy to control." In general, more resistance in a clarinet design usually keeps the louder dynamic ranges from spreading; the clarinet "holds its core" and focus, but will provide a smaller dynamic range (on both ends, loud and soft) and smaller color palette. A less resistant clarinet typically provides a much wider tonal palette to choose from, but will require more control from the player to control pitch and sound consistency. When listening for how a clarinet responds to added air pressure and embouchure control, listen to the Weber example (wide dynamic range and color range), then the Berlioz excerpt (wide dynamic range, but narrow color range), and finally the Gershwin excerpt (narrow dynamic range and narrow color range). You will hear how these clarinets respond — for better or worse! — to my input as a clarinet player. Note: the clarinet performance dashboard is coming — I'm just waiting for the next shipment of Tosca Bb clarinets to perform the test!
