Hey friends, have you already heard a soprillo?

 

The rare instrument is a saxophone, but a higher-pitched one: in Bb, one octave over the soprano, one fifth over the sopranino. Made only by Benedikt Eppelsheim, a nice guy in Munich
http://www.eppelsheim.com/en/instruments/soprillo/ (have a look at his other odd instruments too...)

Any high-pitched wind instrument is difficult, and this one is very high-pitched, but Nigel Wood plays it nicely
http://soprillo.com/soprillogy.php
he recorded a Cd of inspired and diverse jazz, "Soprillogy", that's probably the debut of the instrument's reknown.
Track samples there!

Clarinets do E3 to C7 - not sure why you would bother with your Soprillo at B3 to E6. Saxes tend to be louder - but clarinets can (almost uniquely for woodwind) perform from ppp to fff. Is this not filling a gap that doesn't really exist?

 

Hi imatfaal, thanks for your interest!

 

Bb3 to Eb6 is the written range. The soprillo (not especially mine) sounds a seventh higher: Ab4-Eb7. Written C7 isn't neither standard range for a clarinet: not every player, mouthpiece, reed achieve it, and the fingerings depend on each instrument; standard practice goes to written G6 if memory serves. The smaller Eb clarinet sounds an Bb6 from the written G6.

 

But above all, this is a saxophone. It has the sound quality, intonation, fingerings of a saxophone. While I certainly agree about the unique ppp to fff on the clarinet, I also consider that instruments are not equivalent. The same piece played on different instruments sounds differently, and even more remarkably, composers who play different instruments don't create the same pieces, jazz musicians even more so.