Posted by dave on July 31, 2003 at 22:35:40:
In Reply to: Euphonium/Baritone/Tenor/Alto horn posted by Tom on July 31, 2003 at 12:50:40:
One thing missing in Klaus' post is that the bariton and tenor horn as produced in Germany has a much longer leadpipe than the equivalent euphonium and baritone as produced by the Brits and Swiss.
I played an Alexander bariton for 30+ years (model 151) and currently play a model 150 as well as a Hirsbrunner euph, and another difference is that the overtone structure of the German horns is much different than the Swiss euphonium. See Rick Denney's website for a wonderful analysis of the difference:
http://www.rickdenney.com/york_vs_miraphone.htm
Contrary to the other poster who lumped Alexander and Miraphone baritones under the same disparagement of poor intonation, my experience with both Alex baritons has been that the
intonation is exceptionally good. Certainly no worse than the Hirsbrunner euph, with perhaps two problem notes that can be worked around. The Miraphone baritons I have tried on the other hand were not usable.
Finally one more difference: the Alex baritons are also wonderfully efficient in sound production. They are much lighter, are made of thinner brass, than the Besson-style euphoniums (e.g. 12 pounds vs 22 pounds), and they have a resonance that is much different (I always found Besson euphs to be particularly non-resonant, but that may just be me).
-Dave