Bassoon Side-by-Side//B.H.Bell//Moosmann
B.H. Bell (dark brown) and Moosmann 150E DLX (light red)
First - my disclaimers - I am not preparing for an audition and it's probably been years (2019 was my last audition) since I played a few of these excerpts. Yes! There are mistakes and weird tempi and finger flubs. Keep in mind that my reed is setup for my bassoon. I selected one reed and played both instruments with the same reed.
The Moosmann is my instrument. I have been wanting to try a Bell bassoon for many years! They are hard to come by, but everyone I know who plays a Bell absolutely loves them. Now I know why! This is a fun instrument to play. Super even scale, fabulous and responsive top octave, warm and nutty sound. The very bottom of the range was a bit resistant but it probably just needs an adjustment to ensure everything is sealing. The only thing I didn't like was the R.H. pinky cluster which was a very large spread for me. The instrument is being sold by Midwest (12/15/2021) if you want to check it out.