Posted by Rick Denney on October 04, 2001 at 14:02:59:
In Reply to: Dies Erie Advice Needed posted by Dale on October 03, 2001 at 16:17:03:
I've been thinking about this since you posted it, and I've just about come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if the second part is played on a smaller horn.
In looking at the parts (I have the Torchinsky book), it seems to me that both parts are in unison, but the first part has some bits that the second part doesn't. Therefore, when both players are playing, they are both playing the same note. How could someone in the audience, therefore, tell which is which? If the second part was on the fundamental and the first part on a higher harmonic or octave note, as in divisi band parts, then there may be an argument for doing it on a bigger instrument. This would be true, perhaps, if the conductor wanted the octaves in the dies irae. Even then, your colleague with the 186 could play the lower octave, and you could play the part as written.
When I heard Mike Sanders and Lee Hipp play it, Mike had a big F tuba and Lee, on the second part, had a small F tuba. They were always perfectly in tune, and when they played the dies irae, it sounded like one instrument. How would you know who was on which part?
Therefore, being qualified as I am to speak with utter lack of authority or expertise, I'd recommend choosing an instrument for the second part that, when added to the first player's sound, creates the right overall effect. Two contrabass tubas may well be too much--certainly from a historical perspective--but a contrabass and a bass tuba will be closer to the mark.
Rick "who has lived through much worse than Pineapple Poll" Denney