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Hi all,

In the upcoming months I will be rehearsing performing the ever popular Concerto for Bass Tuba and Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams with an orchestra for the first time in my career so far as a tubist. As this is an important milestone for me, I want to be sure to perform the piece as accurately as possible. I know there to be some edits in the Oxford edition that are possibly less than accurate:

- Movement 1, beat 2 of bar 4 of rehearsal 9 triplet 8ths changed to regular 8ths
(screenshot shown in replies)

- Movement 1 cadenza, added the high F Ab Gb F figure after the 16th run up to F
(screenshot shown in replies)

- Movement 1 cadenza, after the second high F fermata, written as F Eb F Eb instead of F Ab F Eb - Movement 3, beat 2 of bar 4 of rehearsal 4 written as Eb Ab G, should be Eb Ab Bb As well as edits made in the oxford edition that are much preferred to editions prior:

- Movement 1 cadenza, F Db Gb C in the instead of F Eb Gb C
Has anyone done the research to find the proper/preferred ways to perform this concerto with all of the inaccuracies and edits that have been made over the years? If so, please let me know. The spots I have mentioned are simply the ones I know of. Also, Since I will be performing this with a symphony orchestra, if there are any inaccuracies in the score or orchestra parts that people know of, please let me know! Thank you for your time!

Happy new year,

Cassidy Stanhope

Screenshots of the first two inaccuracies from the oxford edition mentioned:

- Movement 1, beat 2 of bar 4 of rehearsal 9 triplet 8ths changed to regular 8ths - Movement 1 cadenza, added the high F Ab Gb F figure after the 16th run up to F

You can find the original manuscript, which Ralph Vaughan Williams had sent to Roger Bobo in the 1950s, as a copy at
upperhay.com
Oxford had made some changes (or mistakes?) for their first edition and and even when asked by RVW to correct these nothing happened, so this manuscript is THE source for the original music

Hi Cassidy,

Congrats on getting to play this with orchestra!! Huge milestone for sure!

I've done much the same rabbit hole digging as you on this piece (as many, many have) and the only conclusion I came to was that every one has a different opinion. There are a lot of pros who just don't care enough to correct the part. Bobo came up with his own rendition with what he said were the correct edits years ago, then when I talked to him about it right before his death he said he didn't care quite so much about it all.

In the end, play what you feel is the most compelling edition you can offer, knowing that there are a LOT of opportunity to make it your own, which is a WONDERFUL opportunity!!

Check out Gene's version that he did on CC with the CSO most recently if you can find it. JaTtik Clark has a performance on YouTube that draws a lot of inspiration from Gene's liberties.

For what it's worth, the pitch corrections you have laid out here are ones I have used in the past. I take inspiration from John Fletcher's recording with the LSO and the corrections he made to the part. The only major difference with how I approach the piece is the phrasing. I believe much of the articulations in the present printed edition come from Catelinet and were not intended by RVW. Listen to the premiere recording of the piece and you can hear why the soloist may have needed to change the articulations in order to get through the tune.

My best advice for you is to find the full orchestral score and study the phrasing in the accompaniment and check for any pitches in the solo part that may not align with the same material in the accompaniment. Do your best research, come up with a plan, then stop worrying about it and just make great music out of a piece that is less than great, lol.

Well, except for the 2nd movement. Man, that is amazing music no matter the instrument.

OK, that's it my annual check in to Tubenet