Shouldn't there be more chamber music for tuba?

trulvious · Post by **trulvious** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:08 pm

YES, there should be!

It is my goal to increase the amount of chamber pieces available for tuba. I have started a website that will act as a forum to discuss the topic, listen two and exchange information about new works, and help raise funds for commissions.

Check it out:

http://www.tubacommission.blogspot.com

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:14 pm

...a brass quintet isn't chamber music?

Z-Tuba Dude · Post by **Z-Tuba Dude** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:18 pm

Sounds like an interesting start, to what could be a good piece.

How much money are you trying to raise?

trulvious · Post by **trulvious** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:20 pm

A brass quintet sure is chamber music...don't you think we need more of them? More duets, trios, quartets, instrument pairings of all kinds. We need more varied choices. Don't you think?

trulvious · Post by **trulvious** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:23 pm

The final cost has not been determined. I am going to post more information on the blog when it becomes available. The cost is going to be more than one student tuba player could afford, that I'm sure.
That's why we need to join together as tuba players and fund great new music.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:12 pm

trulvious wrote:A brass quintet sure is chamber music...don't you think we need more of them? More duets, trios, quartets, instrument pairings of all kinds. We need more varied choices. Don't you think?

Probably--and we could certainly use more original works rather than transcriptions. I think that out of the body of brass chamber music, quintet's the largest.

porkchopsisgood · Post by **porkchopsisgood** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:35 pm

A worthy endeavor, indeed.

A great idea, and I hope everything works out in the end.

Smart move, Trulvious!

imperialbari · Post by **imperialbari** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 6:25 am

The problem with the tuba is that a room holding a tuba, a tubist, and at least 5 persons listening must be larger than a chamber.

Really bad joke aside: The topic has my interest, because I find the topic of instrumentation structures interesting.

The format of a brass instrument with piano does not appeal to me. There are some problems of intonation, which my ears never liked to handle neither as a player, nor as a listener.

An organ is much more attractive to play with. It is much easier for the brass player to hear and to blend with.

This morning I heard a brilliant sample on Danish classical radio with a British trumpet player:

http://www.alisonbalsom.com/

Her visual marketing attempts are not of my liking. And she does not need them, as her playing speaks for itself.

Tuba and organ may sound like an odd set-up. But the organ has many stops, which may be distributed in a way, where the organ may keep the bass line. And then it still will be possible to open up a sufficient number of octaves, where the tuba may operate undisturbed.

I also could imagine some potential in the combination of tuba and string quartet.

It will not be me writing any of this.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

imperialbari · Post by **imperialbari** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 12:48 pm

My wording would be different, but that is pure formalism.

Whereas I accept the photos, where she is a relaxed herself, then I am somewhat reserved towards the more stylish photos.

For my taste she has taken the wrong model for her styling. She comes pretty close to one part of a current celebrity divorce case in the UK.

I am terribly happy, that I heard her before I saw her, because my ears at once came up with the verdict: This is a musician worthwhile listening to.

If a bit of formalism may be allowed:

The style of Alison Balsom puzzled me a bit because I heard a slight discrepancy between her extremely fluent playing concept and a very slight edge in the legatos. The biography and the photos gave me the code: she plays in the violin-like style of the solo cornets of the best British brass bands. But her piccolo trumpet is a rotary Scherzer. Rotary valves can be very fast, but their legatos are not quite as smooth as those of pistons.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

porkchopsisgood · Post by **porkchopsisgood** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 5:24 pm

bump...go to the website....send money

trulvious · Post by **trulvious** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:26 pm

The composer for the current project I'm trying to fund has sent me another example from the piece. It is the opening of the second movement.

www.tubacommission.blogspot.com

You may need to hit the refresh button on your browser to see the new clip if you have visited the site before.

Please help me with suggestions on sources for funding or by donating something. Any amount will help.

Thanks

imperialbari · Post by **imperialbari** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:02 am

This ongoing project of course has my interest from several points of view. But I am not a soloist on tuba myself, even if I have been it especially on the recorder, trombones, baritone, and euph.

The theoretical aspects have been touched upon further up this thread. And I only can endorse using a Norwegian composer. There is another Norwegian composer on the Contrabass List. I do not remember his name, but he is the utility clarinet of the Oslo Opera.

He writes music for insane combinations of low instruments. He has an exuberant humour, and his titles are using terms, which not even I have used in public discussions. Only he had not counted on somebody being able to read Norwegian seeing those titles in an English-spoken context. I did not translate them verbatim, even if I am used to a much larger degree of artistic freedom, than some of you may encounter in your countries. Actually it is not nationality, but level of education, which opens up for artistic freedom.

You may ask on the Norsk Tubaforum for some pooling from their best players also. They will understand English also. The software is the exact same as used within TubeNet. The address is:

http://tubaforum.tubaplayer.com/viewforum.php?f=1

As for Alison and her playing Bach:

Bach is one of the composers, whom I have studied the most. I am always partial towards listening to versions of his music if well performed.

Carol Jantsch has showed another valid road to new repertory. As far as I can reckon, she plays violin concertos directly from the original prints, only she uses trumpet fingerings on her CC-tuba. You may start with Beethoven. Much of the thematic material in the outer movements is inspired by horn melodies. You can take these back to the brasses.

I may provide a for free encore. The most novelty version takes, that your school can come up with 10 good flute players.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre