Posted by Chuck Jackson on September 16, 2003 at 22:45:29:
In Reply to: Re: Search for quintet/solo music posted by Richard Perry on September 15, 2003 at 23:07:05:
I read through the Baker last summer with my wifes string quartet. While the tuba part ain't at all easy, the string parts are way hard. The second movement is a blues with the quartet playing in 1/2 steps alot of the time. The rest, while written very well idiomatically for strings, proved to be too much of a task to get the quartet to take on as a project. It is a great piece, albeit a big undertaking. Everyone has got to be a hero. I heard Don Harry play it in 1979 and I think he said it was one of the hardest things to put together he had ever done. Well worth the effort if you can coerce the string players into doing it. Gotta love the pedal C at the end after playing in the stratosphere.
Chuck