Posted by Cimbasso Player on January 16, 2002 at 19:31:40:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Verdi's Requiem posted by not gonna put my name one this one on January 16, 2002 at 12:03:21:
"Please don't write and tell us about the moving cimbasso performance you heard last year. "
So, the opposition has no say here? I've heard the cimbasso played poorly, and I've heard it played well...it's all up to the player. I think that many tuba players try to blow it like a tuba. In this manner, the sound goes quickly from dull and lifeless (p) to hellishly edgy (ff). Some bass trombone players try to play it with a bass trombone mouthpiece, which, in my opinion, has equally poor results. A small tuba mouthpiece and a fast, trombone-like airstream yields the best results. As for intonation, a cimbasso can be played as in tune or out of tune as most tubas.
My Dover edition of the Verdi Requiem lists basstuba as the bottom voice, but it's a reproduction of a German edition. Kalmus is no help, because they have the unfortunate habit of changing cimbasso to tuba at will in their scores and parts. (I've seen older Kalmus editions of a Verdi opera say "cimbasso" and a newer edition of the same opera say "tuba". I'd like to see what an original Ricordi score says. Mike Bunn of the Kennedy Center Orchestra (in a T.U.B.A. Journal Cover note) says that he has used the cimbasso on a "wide range of compositions including the Verdi Requiem".