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I have a recording of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 by the Cleveland Orchestra in 1960. Can anyone tell me who the tuba player was, i can't seem to find it.

Thanks

cengland wrote:Chester Roberts?

Yes. Ron Bishop didn't join the Cleveland Orchestra until 1967.

Do you have perhaps have the 1959 Cleveland/Szell Sony recording that also has the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra? Definitely Chester Roberts on that one, and perhaps the best recording (at least, tuba-wise) of the piece, in my opinion.

Todd, if you haven't already, check out the recording of Cleveland doing this piece under Maazel with Bishop. The golden standard of orchestral tuba playing in my book.

Some very interesting "Tuba Geek" stuff relating the tuba situation with Cleveland back in the day of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Bishop. It even merited an article inTIME magazine back in 1967.

Interesting anecdote about this switcheroo as told to me by my friend and colleague Allen Kofsky (second trombone and ***'t personnel mgr at the time) -

Apparently Chester Roberts got very upset with George Szell about something or other. He marched into his studio and said, "I quit!" Szell reminded him that he was under contract until the end of the season and couldn't quit without getting sued. Chester said, "Fine, I'll quit at the end of the season, you #%$&^%@#!" Szell made him put it in writing.

Some time later, all was forgiven and they made up - or so Chester thought. One weekend, he asked Al what he was going to be doing, and Al told him he had to listen to tuba auditions. Apparently, Chester had forgotten all about "the incident" and didn't know this was going on - but Szell had it in writing. So Bishop got the job and the rest is history...

I don't know anything about the specifics of him going to SFSO, but he obviously didn't stay very long since Floyd started there in 1969.

BWTuba

Mr Kofsky told me a similar story, so it must be true! Jim DeSano wasn't familiar with it, though, so I still wonder...

It was great having Mr Kofsky (no one around Akron U called him anything but that) and Jim teaching was great. We did sectionals with them, running excerpts, and getting their perspectives on not only HOW to play the piece, but how this conductor wanted it, how that player played it, all the possible nuances you could expect. Great times.