I never knew Beethoven composed the construction site in front of my window

My husband plays this instrument every morning. I just can't figure out where he keeps it.

This is the exact tone that every heavy metal bass guitar player is looking for.

"The classical is generally much softer, and has some really nice, pure notes." **Starts up lawnmower**

"The classical is generally much softer, and has some really nice, pure notes." BRAAAAAAAP, BWREEEEEEEP

"Beethoven himself may have heard it" The instrument so loud a deaf man could hear it.

1:55 Ah yes, the opening movement from Beethoven's "Symphony for Oil-tankers." I know it well!

"I want a foghorn with a double-reed" ~Beethoven

IF you hate your neighbours, this is a perfect instument to practice at 3am.

The classical is generally much softer and has some really nice pure notes *continues to play a ship horn*

With such low notes, you realize that pitch is really just a frequency. Impressive.

I call this next composition 'Ship Arriving in Harbour'.

Thats a note every one will remember. * starts an air compressor *

When your game crashes 5:12

Beethoven: "I am bored of these instruments, make me something that resonates rock to dust while being hilarious to look at and hear"

If this intimidating-looking instrument would be used as a weapon of mass destruction, it would be called a bassooka.

Beethoven: What this piece so desperately needs is the sound of a rhinoceros farting, but however am I to get him to do it in time with the music? Sir Simon Contrabassoon: A moment of your time, please, good sir?

It sounds like a fart reverberating off an orange plastic classroom chair.

4:36 - When you need to snipe people with the brown note from 10 miles away

Production team: Which is the widest angle lens we got?? He's playing a giraffe bone.

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should"

"Some really nice "pure notes..." I call this one... "Uncle on the toilet"

Especially for Bethoven, this instrument was... "unheard of" at the time.

He should play the “ smoke on the water” riff on it , would sound really cool

The range of pitch is from 'taco fart' down to 'engine noise in cabin'.

I very much enjoyed this video and learning about this instrument. However, I REALLY have enjoyed the comments much much more....

This comment thread is priceless. You folks got me laughing first thing in the morning!

1800's: Has bassoons Beethoven and Haydn: _We need to go deeper_

Looks like an anti aircraft weapon😂

4:11 So you’re controlling the reed... **Angry barn owl shrieking** In a different way to the modern one which is... **Screeching baby with a cold**

No wonder Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was so epic. It had instruments I've never even heard of before. 😂

If you imagine him as a very small man playing a regular wind instrument it really elevates the video

If you’re the kind of person who nearly faints blowing up balloons, this is not the instrument for you.

My grandfather played this instrument. His was a Mollenhauer built in the 1930s. He played for Arturo Toscinini & Arther Fiedler among others. You can see him playing saxophone behind Al Jolson in the caberet scene of "The Jazz Singer" made in 1927. He played in the Vitaphone orchestra.

David Chatterton: devotes his life to mastering a difficult, beautiful instrument with a rich history. KZfaq comments: _I'm about to end this man's whole career_

Can you imagine the experience of your breathe bringing to life music from a 211 year old instrument. Marvelous

It's so low I can almost count the individual vibrations.

Can you imagine a trio for this, the sub contrabass saxophone, and the octobass? The vibrations would be insane!

"The contrabassoon has only one rival in an orchestra, and that's the smashing of hardened concrete with a pneumatic drill next to your ear".

People: why is your left arm so huge? Mr. David Chatterton: I hold THIS.

"Beethoven himself may well have heard it." Well, that explains why he went deaf ...

This mad lad had a distorted 808 in the 16th century

I love the illustration of the “terrible” notes. Non wind players won’t know what this means, but every bassoonist, particularly those who also have to do contra, understand!!

I played the Bassoon in Highschool. We were told to choose our instruments, I picked the Bassoon because it looked so strange. Great instrument.

"this really is one note which everyone can remember from the piece" *jackhammer begins drilling into cement*

Today I Learned: A contrabassoon looks like a Final Fantasy weapon.

2:30 wow, I never noticed that the bell is chopped off in the masking process.

I made the mistake of reading the comments while watching the video... I can't hear the dude talking over how loud I'm laughing... thanks everyone 😂

Beethoven: “I do say, I’ve always wanted an instrument of flatulence.” David: “Say no more”

I congratulate him on somehow managing to keep a straight face (and let's not forget that the first composer to use one in a symphony was stone deaf at the time).

Nobody: Me after eating 2 chipotle burritos in the span of 10 minutes: 5:13

it should have red lights. you know, for the airplanes

It's like a precision didgeridoo.

4:35 wait, did this thing get LONGER?

I had water stuck in my ear for weeks, and this video really helped thank you!

This is the KZfaq content I didn't know I needed.

3:00 "...has really nice pure notes" *10 seconds of brown note*

Sounds like a Honda civic with a loud subwoofer, from the outside.

I really didn't know about this instrument, so thank you for introducing it in this video. The history of instruments is really intriquing and also gives a nice additional insight into Beethoven's 5th. It must be inspiring for a composer to have a sound like this at his disposal, really enhancing the possibilities.

*_Amazing sound, so rich and warm..._* First time seeing or hearing a Contra-Bassoon. I think that is the tallest instrument I have seen. The new version with folded main airway really makes it more compact. Some will prefer old over new. Even with 2 1/2 octave range, the pitches are such that most people, myself included will listen with a sense of awe.

My late Dad played bassoon in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during the 1950s - 60s. I recall one day he brought a contra-bassoon home to practice for an upcoming performance of the Fifth. Besides Beethoven, Dad produced eructations of flatulence from the beast, to the great amusement of his kids ( but not, as I recall, their Mom!)

It may be a coincidence that Alfried Krupp toured the Beethoven museum only 6 months before the 88 MM Flak cannon was designed. Then again...

"Symphony for Oil-tankers" was my personal favorite down here in the comment section. Good one Magnus.

I don't care who you are, you can't just stroll by this and ignore it, like I wanted to at first. Great performance, great sound! I was so sad when it was all over!

Is it me or does it grow during the video? It looks much longer in the end. Maybe it's happy to see us?

man, that clacking sound along with the fundamental..... that is scary! 5:15 horror soundtrack... done. haha

The lungs one must need to play an instrument like that.

5:06 will be my new ringtone ^^

"Austrian marching bands on the continent that needed a 16' sound..." I've got to see those Austrian marching bands.

4:13 I can't imagine testing a contrabassoon reed by itself and deciding it doesn't sound right, when this is the standard you're aiming for.

Reminds me of something I heard from a guy in the band I used to play keyboards with. He had a BASS saxophone. That was something that sat on a stand, definitely NOT a marching instrument, and its low notes also sounded like someone with a digestive disorder. I'm sure its the overtones that I'm hearing, but the really low notes for this video sound like the fundamental tone must be sub-sonic. Since one end is open, that means the effective length is doubled, so that thing might approach the equivalent of a pipe organ's 32-foot bass stops. Which is approximately 32 Hz if you round off some numbers. And that is DEEP. The downer for such an instrument is that you need to take a very deep breath because you have to move a lot of air to get that resonance going.

somehow over the years bassoon sound has become one of my favourites and your show is spectacular

aka anti tank bassoon

I'm left with a feeling that this could very well be a prank and we'd all be too embarrassed to ask...

My man is playing the telephone pole.

Thank you for featuring this unique instrument. More, please.

Bassoon inventor: "Damn! My duck call is broken! I hate to throw it away though....."

And thus Dubstep was birthed by our forefathers 🤔

Fabulous. I love this kind of lecture and presentation. Fascinating

So glad to have seen this. Just imagine practicing this gizmo for hours a day...

My old band friends always joked that bassoons were just bazookas you could play. But that things a freaking Howitzer.

This thing can almost definitely hit the brown note.

When Chuck Norris buys a milk shake from McDonald's, he uses that thing as his straw.

It was also used in the choral section of Beethoven's 9th symphony.

Beethoven's love of flatulence has finally been exposed.

"the classical is generally much softer and has some really soft pure notes." brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum

Imagine turning up for band practice with one of these!

The long old one is much more epic looking!

First time I heard a contrabasson was when I was playing double bass in an orchestra playing Brahms. I fell in love with it. It looks the like pipes in the cellar of an old house. :D

This literally sounds like my phone vibrating when I put it in silent

Beethoven: I hath inventeth a new instrument. Alloweth me to play it. The audience: what are thee - deafeth?

Thought I was listening to the scene in Close Encounters where the mothership talks to the organ, LOL That is a monster instrument. COOL

Love the sound of your instrument. As a clarinetist, I can appreciate the work and difficulty in making your reeds and playing that classic instrument. Thanks for the great sample of it's range and playing a short clip from Beethoven's work.

We need a "Contrabassoon Hero" video game and an authentically sized controller of the Contrabassoon. Would be fun, no?

Happy Birthday Ludwig! I made a copy of the Bate Collection's Tauber contra for David back in the summer of 1986 at David's father tool and die shop in Canning Town, London with David's father Harry helping me with advice on lathes and mills. A fine man. David had commissioned this for a much anticipated, period instrument concert of Beethoven's Five at Royal Festival Hall. I'm not sure what band, London Baroque Orchestra maybe? David obviously found an original to copy and drawing on his father's DNA, made his own copy more recently.

It actually makes some really hard synth-like sounds.

Very nice! I have to admit, I didn't give a flying f about the bassoon, but then I married a woman who played one in school. She didn't call it a bassoon, she called it a fagotto. She could air-bassoon like no one else, and I'm a little jealous. This contrabassoon is very interesting, but I might need a roof rack.

What a lovely warm sound! It's comforting, and I can imagine it playing in consort with others of its kin. A nice, reedy range.

That is a killer ax. That will be the center of attention in any orchestra that dares have it.

Cool deep sounds. Love it.