Obtaining an older version of the RVW Concerto in f minor

[CooperBayliff]

I have a solo competition coming up in a month, and they are very strict, basically the jist is that I need to find a clean copy of the vaughan williams that has the high Ab in the cadenza marked as optional, otherwise I will be forced to play it as written if I want a medal. I am a junior on a Bb tuba, the rest of the piece is fine, and yes I can play the Ab, but its just to inconsistent and makes the end of the cadenza sound worse.

[jtuba]

Are they so strict that they'll make you play from original music and not copies?

My old orange cover OUP 1991 purchase has the ab as optional, but I know OUP now sells with a red cover. Did the editors (who still won't fix the differences between the published version and RVW manuscript) take out the "may be omitted..." note on the bottom of the page?

[CooperBayliff]

Are they so strict that they'll make you play from original music and not copies?

Did the editors (who still won't fix the differences between the published version and RVW manuscript) take out the "may be omitted..." note on the bottom of the page?

Yes and yes. I will say that there is no mention over the specific version/edition of the RVW that is required so if I could track down an OUP 1991 edition I could use that.