Re: Re: Re: Verdi Requiem


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Jay Bertolet on November 28, 2002 at 22:44:50:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Verdi Requiem posted by Just Wondering on November 28, 2002 at 10:55:40:

I've been thinking a lot about these issues lately. As you can imagine, when you drop a pretty penny for some gadget that you've managed to get by without up to this point, some soul searching is inevitable. Here is where I'm at so far.

1) I always try to respect the composer's wishes when deciding equipment. Admittedly, there are composers who really don't know what they want or they know but can't achieve what they're looking for. I'm sure everybody has run across a part or two (as have I) which is either non-idiomatic or which would sound much better using what we know now.

All that said, I'm not inclined to dismiss the composer's intention out of hand without trying it his way first. I feel that is the very least I can do and still maintain some artistic integrity. Berlioz is a great example of a composer who couldn't achieve (in some cases) what he was looking for with the period equipment. My experience is that situations like Berlioz are pretty rare. Mostly, composers imagined in the context of what they had to work with and then scored those ideas in a format that they could concieve of, namely what was currently available.

2) In the case of Verdi, the master really knew what he was talking about. For years I've played his works on tubas and felt really happy with the result. Then I tried a cimbasso and all that changed. For me, the difference is profound. Verdi's works are scored in such a way that the tuba sound is somewhat out of place, at least that's how it sounds to me. I truly believe that these works sound much better on a cimbasso. This was the basic idea behind my ITEC presentation last May.

3) I love new gadgets but I have to say that learning to play the cimbasso has been fairly difficult for me. The problems are so different than the tuba, I found myself in a pretty steep learning curve. What makes it worthwhile is the end result. We recently played an outdoor concert that was a mostly pops program but included the Verdi Overture to La Forza del Destino. Since this was an outdoor concert that was amplified, I decided not to bring two horns (a CC tuba and the cimbasso) just for the Verdi. So, in the middle of our current production of the operas I Pagliacci & Cavalleria Rusticana, here I am playing La Forza on my big CC tuba. The experience was interesting. It was so much easier to actually play the part on the CC because I was so used to all the issues involved. But the sound just wasn't the same. Thankfully, the audience never would have noticed the difference because of the cheesy amplification.

I think another reason for the increase in popularity, in addition to the reasons listed above, is that the instruments today are so excellent in quality. I've seen older cimbassi and they look and sound like they would be very hard to play. Many players I've spoken to claim that the older cimbassi were a lot of work. For me, even though it has been a pretty intense 9 months of work, I'm feeling more confident with mine every time I use it. Given time, I feel I could be pretty consistent on this horn and that is a very different story than the one relayed to me by players of the older style instruments.

I can only guess if these are the real reasons. These are just the things I've noticed in my limited experience with the horn.

My opinion for what it's worth...


Follow Ups: