Posted by Rick Denney on November 26, 2001 at 08:48:47:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Hodie, Vaughan Willaims posted by Ola on November 22, 2001 at 11:31:57:
It is tonal balance that I'm talking about, not merely loudness. The tone of "traditional" pea-shooter trombones and trumpets in British orchestras is much thinner and brighter than the currently popular large-bore instruments and mouthpieces. I have historical recordings of these orchestras playing just the works I'm talking about, and even after you make allowances for recording technology, the brass has a lighter, more piercing sound.
So, when we allow the other brass players to move to larger equipment that creates a much fuller, bigger sound, but we still show up to rehearsal with a EEb tuba, then we will have lost the tonal balance that we once had. I'm no fan of using overly large equipment, as any review of my postings will show, but I wonder at what we think of as traditional for some of these works by Vaughan Williams. Vaughan Williams was not a Romantic composer, despite how he is characterized by some.
The Concerto was certainly written to be played on a Barlow F tuba, uncompensated, with five valves. That small instrument was the standard tuba in British orchestras until at least the early 60's. But even in those days, British tuba players would bring out a big instrument for works that required it; hence my citing of the photo of George Wall (in the 60's) playing a BBb Alexander kaiserbasstuba. Of course, John Fletcher played a Besson EEb frequently (and reportedly because Boosey and Hawkes would no longer make the traditional F tuba), but he also played a large Holton when appropriate. It's the "when appropriate" part that causes problems. It doesn't seem practical to me for the tuba player to unilaterally adopt an older, smaller sound concept when the rest of the brass is not willing to join him in that effort. That does not promote balance. If the whole brass has moved to a fuller, more enveloping sound, the tuba player must do something to provide a foundation. After all, modern ears are tuned to amplified music. There's a reason violin players now use steel strings.
Rick "who thinks works like RVW's symphonies benefit from the bigger (not louder) sound" Denney