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I was listening to the WQXR stream today and they played a recording of the Strauss Serenade for Winds in Eb by the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic where they used tuba in various passages (per the “optional” tuba part Strauss wrote). I’ve always lived the way the timbre of the tuba fills out the ensemble and allows for greater richness in the sonorities. I’ve been lucky enough to have performed this a couple of times. Balance is very challenging, as you can imagine. I’m wondering how many folks might have performed this?

I played it in 1998 in a group in Austria. We had a contrabassoon, too, and we split the part as seemed best. It is a nice piece of music. I used a small F tuba.

I´ve only played it once but a very cool piece to play. You feel a bit naked at times. Thanks for sharing Gary.

Yes, it’s incredibly exposed. I actually played it on my Rudy Meinl 5/4! It was a lot of “whisper” playing.