instrument choice (for various pieces orchestral literature) POLL

[bloke]

poll:

- Those participating may vote affirmative for any or all choices.
- OK to vote for one in the affirmative even if it only means "IF I had one of those, I would use that to play that piece."
- Please only vote for the last choice if none of the other choices were found to be agreeable.

[bloke]

OK...

Here's one whereby I voted in everyone's else behalf:

auto-vote.png (2.46 KiB) Viewed 666 times

[York-aholic]

A concert band I play in did just March to the Scaffolds from Symphonie Fantastic. It’s the same part as the orchestral part. No worries, pull out my trusty York 4+1 medium Eb.

Then the director hands me the double bass part and asks me to play that for the first 70 bars, with a bunch of low Gs at the beginning. Ok, can do.

Then he asks for more weight to the sound.

Result: in the concert, play York BBb for the first 70 bars then make mad tuba swap to Eb. The trumpet player next to my flinched each time a tuba bell wizzed by her head.



Strangely, that response wasn’t in your poll.

[bloke]

wind-band music is a c-f.
"Play everything with four people playing anything/everything."
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The last time I played "March to the Scaffold", I played it on a big fat (one of the notoriously large ones with a really accessible low range) compensating euphonium with a bass trombone mouthpiece (rather than - as most do, and as I've done before - F tuba).
I will report that it was "liberating", seemingly "too easy"...and tons *loud enough.
________________________________
*composed in 1930 - (pre-John Williams)

[Bob Kolada]

"Symphonie Fantastique, Tuba 1 - compensating euphonium"
What horn for the second part in this scenario? I read of 2 guys using a comp euph on 1 and a 321Eb on 2, seemed like an interesting combo. How about Rite of Spring on 2 euphs? Probably easier to find and play than those little French tubas.

[bloke]

"Symphonie Fantastique, Tuba 1 - compensating euphonium"
What horn for the second part in this scenario? I read of 2 guys using a comp euph on 1 and a 321Eb on 2, seemed like an interesting combo. How about Rite of Spring on 2 euphs? Probably easier to find and play than those little French tubas.

probably bass tuba for Berlioz' Tuba 2 (??) Several of us have heard a recording of this piece performed quite well/quite effectively with ophicleides, but there just aren't even really fine ophicleide players (a dozen in the world, who are really great...??) out there, and (though the trend is reversing) most orchestras tend to play too many of the passages - in the last two movements - too loud.

Stravinsky: Tuba 2
Not everyone has a 6-valve F tuba, and most 6-valve F tubas do not feature a 5th slide trigger...but - with a 6-valve F tuba whereby "low F" can be played in tune with all 6 valves, a devastating amount of "burn" can be achieved (2nd tuba) with that early-in-the-piece shocking/surprising "low F".

Were I the principal tuba in an orchestra that programmed the Stravinsky - and they actually budgeted to cover all the parts (as this doesn't always occur, these days), I'd probably move myself to 2nd tuba (the far better part), play the 2nd part on my F cimbasso, and have the orchestra hire a really good and let-it-all-hang-out euphonium player to cover the 1st part.

...but Stravinsky scored the piece for two French tubas.

something that is completely ignored, today (for practical and other reasons), by approximately 100% of the tuba players who play the piece.

At the time that Stravinsky wrote this piece (109 years ago, which some forget), had a time-traveling player shown him the (latter 20th century into the 21st century) invention, the (specifically, as smaller bore really-really old sort-of-alikes just don't make enough racket) .625"-bore-and-larger contrabass valve trombone - aka: "cimbasso", I tend to suspect that (particularly: for this piece) he would have been delighted with it.


Some are under the wrong impression that the "scandal" related to the premiere of this piece was due to the dancers being scantily clad.

[Mary Ann]

You left out Bydlo. Played on a euph by moi back when.

[tubanh84]

One of the bonuses of small tubas is that some of these decisions are easier.

Bruckner 4, Brahms 2, Meistersinger, Also Sprach, Rite part 2, Mahler 1 - All on the 184

Symphonie Fantastique, Rite part 1 - on the MW182

Leaves me hanging on the Prok and Mahler 5. But as my 6yo constantly tells me - "Nothing is perfect in life." And, frankly, I think 90% of Mahler 5 would be fine on the 184.

[cthuba]

Of all tubas I have played none paired better than the Yamaha 661 for Symphonic Metamorphosis.

Low register was clean, easy and in tune AND one of the most air efficient to width of sound in the register.

Small orchestra, but larger than any ensemble at my college... I would still pick that horn no matter the size for that piece.



Funnily enough my college HATED that tuba because I had purchased it from someone they did not like and they would regularly bully me into putting my tuba back and using the school owned CC yorkaphone.


I "won" my first orchestra gig on that tuba because the director LOVED the low register on it.


All happened in the same year.

I love academia.

[rudysan]

Anyone play Carmina Burana on F ? And Franck Symphony ?

[bloke]

Anyone play Carmina Burana on F ? And Franck Symphony ?

There are only ten poll slots available when creating a poll (correct?), and those are two pieces that I was hoping to include, but ran out of available choices.

I'd probably play Franck on F...It's one of those symphonies that people believe it's in vogue to claim to dislike...I'm just glad to have a gig.

I'm going to play Carmina Burana (this fall) on "FatBastard" (a new-to-me huge Miraphone model 98 B-flat tuba). -
- Nearly everything jn that work's tuba part is "you're playing the bass line" stuff.
- That one somewhat wild lick (slow ascending D's and A's, and then quickly jumping all over the instrument playing various E-naturals) is rock-solid (seemingly) "can't miss" on this huge monster...I really do not UNDERSTAND why those very high pitches (10th partial and 12th partial pitches) are so very solid on this instrument, but all that matters is that they are.