This is awesome to see. Although I know Sophie was the contrabassoonist in the Berlin Phil, I had never actually heard her play. In other news, this is the second time I've heard a newer Püchner contra, and I *really* want one. Congratulations, Püchner craftsmen on a beautiful instrument.
Once when I was young I saw a contrabassoon in the window of Payne's Music. It was less bent over than this, maybe 8 feet tall, and I could tell that it needed a lot of work to get functional again (at least all the pads and keys had to get replaced), and still it was selling for something crazy like $3000, and I was just wondering what was the story - who in my city had played this instrument into the grave? Was it someone from the town philharmonic who'd fallen on hard times and had to sell his contrabassoon?
when i was young my director demonstrated a contrabassoon to me in person, but told me we could never use it in person due to costs. even though i was our best bassoon player.
