TubeNet

Hi Troops,
Although this message affects those in the Chicago area, I am passing along to some on my address list who might find it interesting.
For those locally who can share in this, please pass this message along to interested students and colleagues. This is a rare occurrence.

Some may remember that last spring the CSO performed Gustav Holst: “The Planets” with the original tenor tuba that performed the world premiere of that piece in 1918. That instrument was graciously loaned from Robin Weatherall and was performed by Michael Mulcahy. It was a special event to have such an historical instrument present and being played.
On Saturday, September 27, and Sunday, September 28, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will perform Mussorgsky/Ravel: “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Unusual in this performance will be the movement “Bydlo, the Oxcart” performed on an instrument which Ravel originally intended to have play it; a C French tenor tuba with 6 valves. [Usually this movement is played on a bass tuba or a euphonium.] Unusual in these upcoming performances, the instrument being played is the very instrument which played the U. S. premier with Sergei Koussevitzky in 1924. The instrument is on loan from Principal Tubist of the Utah Symphony, Gary Ofenloch and it is being performed by Principal Trombone of the Utah Symphony, Larry Zalkind. Here are performance details:

Saturday, September 27, 2008 at 2 PM at Orchestra Hall, 220 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago. This performance is FREE!!! It is the annual “Day of Music” at Symphony Center and performances of all kinds of music all day are free. Be aware, that the people start to line up hours before the CSO performance. It will probably be the case on Saturday. They will stop admitting people when the hall is full.

Sunday, September 26, 2008 at 3 PM at Orchestra Hall, 220 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago. This performance is a part of the “Beyond the Score” series. The performance before intermission will consist of the orchestra playing parts of the piece with explanations, videos, historic field recordings, actors and special stand-alone parts of the music, including that for the C French tenor tuba. After intermission, the piece will be played in its entirety. This concert it not free. Ticket information can be obtained from contacting the Chicago Symphony website: http://www.cso.org" target="_blank

I again thank those who at the end of August provided their efforts and suggestions to get all of the above to happen.

Cheers, Gene Pokorny

I have been active representative of two different unions, so I know about respecting musicians’ rights to their artistic output.

However this performance is so unique for modern orchestras and for their followers, that some sort of documentation in form of a professional video recording should happen (the sound should also be treated professionally.

How distribution should happen in a legal way is beyond me, but that field would be covered by plenty of experts.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

I have to agree with Klaus. This is probably going to be one of the very few performances of this type, so with modern digital audio and video, this should be captured for posterity. The drive to Chicago is just too long for me, or I'd love to see and hear the concert in person.

There is already a wonderful document of Pictures using the French Tuba in C out there. There is a DVD of the French Radio and TV Orchestra conducted by Andre Cluytens from 1961 with Pictures on it. The gentleman playing the Tuba part does EVERYTHING in the piece on the French Tuba and performs the BEST Bydlo I have ever heard. He sounds great on the entire piece. The low stuff is present, just sounds different to our "arms race" ears. Remember, this is how Ravel envisioned the piece would sound. There are small bore trombones (no Bass Trombone), trumpets, all using the quirky vibrato of the era. Not only is this a wonderful recording (comes with a killer rendition of Daphnis and Chloe), but a great document of what a French orchestra sounded like before the homogenization process began.

I am of an age when one could tell what orchestra was playing by their individual sound characteristics. With the global homogenization of orchestral sound music has become rather bland. Listen to some 1960's recordings of the Czech Philharmonic playing Dvorak (stupendous), the VPO doing Bruckner from 1944 with Furtwangler (maybe the best recording of Bruckner 8 ever done), Vaughn-Williams with Boult and the LSO or LPO (some GREAT tuba playing in the 60's), or the NYPO/Berstein doing American music (Go Joe Novotny!!!) and you will see what I am talking about. The best tuba playing I have heard on a recording in a long time is on a 1928 recording of "Till" with the Bavarian State Orchestra with Strauss conducting. The guy flat out owns the piece. Want to hear British music as it was "heard" in it's day? Get some Queenshall Orchestra recordings. They are a British orchestra who play on "period" instruments (that period being 1890-1930). They are great despite what we would feel are wrong instruments. Elgar, Vaughn-Williams, Walton, and the rest sound better than more modern instrument recordings.

Sorry for the rant. What we now view as an oddity in performance was once the norm. YMMV.

Chuck "lover of distinct, regional, national sounds on their given music"Jackson

Chuck Jackson wrote:What we now view as an oddity in performance was once the norm.

My whole point in advocating its audio/visual recording. Because outside of the wonderful recordings referenced above, there probably is not much else to let us know what the repertoire is supposed to sound like, or how the composers and contemporaries heard it, or how other generations heard it and interpreted it, and for others, at the very least, to hear some other interpretations and points of view to increase the diversity and musicality of the repertoire, even when performed on "modern" instruments.

Chuck Jackson wrote:There is already a wonderful document of Pictures using the French Tuba in C out there. There is a DVD of the French Radio and TV Orchestra conducted by Andre Cluytens from 1961 with Pictures on it. The gentleman playing the Tuba part does EVERYTHING in the piece on the French Tuba and performs the BEST Bydlo I have ever heard. He sounds great on the entire piece. The low stuff is present, just sounds different to our "arms race" ears. Remember, this is how Ravel envisioned the piece would sound. There are small bore trombones (no Bass Trombone), trumpets, all using the quirky vibrato of the era. Not only is this a wonderful recording (comes with a killer rendition of Daphnis and Chloe), but a great document of what a French orchestra sounded like before the homogenization process began.

Any more details on this DVD? is it still available. A cursory search did not find it.

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Archive-A ... 34&sr=1-11" target="_blank

There is one copy left. Pricey, but priceless for its historical value.

Chuck

The Chicago Symphony has video downloads of several "Beyond the Score" projects it has done in its recent past. The Holst ""Planets" which was performed and videotaped last March (with the original tenor tuba performed at the world premiere) is due to be out in a few weeks.
The Mussorgsky/Ravel "Pictures" will be no exception. Two days ago, the orchestra "videotaped" (or whatever the current word is for that activity) "Pictures" for a download on the "Beyond the Score" series. It just may take several months for it to finally be released.
Hearing the intention of the composer is usually an "aha!" experience, whether it is a C French tenor tuba playing "Pictures", a complete saxhorn family playing the Ewald "Quintet" or hearing a serpent play in the "Reformation" Symphony instead of substituting a contrabassoon.
Having a source easily available to hear such examples is a good thing, but it does little good if there is no curiosity in hearing those examples at all. Have a good weekend.
Cheers, Gene Pokorny

iiipopes wrote:My whole point in advocating its audio/visual recording. Because outside of the wonderful recordings referenced above, there probably is not much else to let us know what the repertoire is supposed to sound like, or how the composers and contemporaries heard it, or how other generations heard it and interpreted it, and for others, at the very least, to hear some other interpretations and points of view to increase the diversity and musicality of the repertoire, even when performed on "modern" instruments.

I am constantly amazed by technology. If one searches one can find audio recordings, and with increasing frequency, video performances of orchestras in their heyday. Look on youtube and you will find a wealth of performances. The scariest is a wonderful Meistersinger Prelude filmed at the IG Farbenwerks in 1942 with the BPO and Furtwangler, Nazi flags and all. I have told of a performance on DVD with the VPO from 1960 of Brahms "Academic Festival Overture" replete with a Dehmal tuba. The piece takes on a different character with the instruments Brahms was accoustomed to and to that day still used. Naxos has a wonderful historic series out that chronicles orchestras, singers, and instrumentalists from the earliest days of recording. I have found them to be eye opening. Want to hear the most powerful recording of Tschaikovsky's 6th? Find the 1939 Furtwangler/BPO recording on Naxos. It is different in every way imaginable, but instantly compelling. I feel we owe a debt to the past, even the distant past, to keep those distinct sounds in the forefront of our ears.

Northern wrote:Having a source easily available to hear such examples is a good thing, but it does little good if there is no curiosity in hearing those examples at all. Have a good weekend.
Cheers, Gene Pokorny

An apt statement. My only quibble with the whole series is that it is taking a single instrument and plugging it into a situation it woefully unable to keep up with in a works entirety given the dramatic changes in the concept of sound, style, and VOLUME of sound we have come to accept as the norm. A great nod to history, but at the sake of authenticity. An observation, certainly not a condemnation. The true test would be to have played the whole work using the French tuba in C with the CSO. It would have been ridiculous, but maybe a better representation of why the instrument has evolved. Do I want to hear a serpent play Mendelssohn 5 with the CSO? Not a chance, I want to hear contrabassoon AND the tuba, however in the proper setting, the serpent probably lends an earthiness to the core sound of the orchestra that Mendelssohn intended. Ewald on saxhorns? I'll stick with modern instruments, however I would like to hear the Bozza Sonatine with the instruments Bozza heard the quintet of the Guarde Republique band using when he wrote it. That would be interesting.

I guess my only point is is that we must honor the past while accepting the present.

Chuck

bloke wrote:Chuck,

The last time I played Mendelssohn V, there was no contrabassoon (only two bassoons hired) and I played the part on an F tuba (with very few exceptions where it seemed "just not right") 8vb.

Had you been the conductor under those circumstances, is that what you would have wanted me to do?

This is a great question Joe. Here are my feelings from a conductors standpoint. Mind you, they are biased from a tuba players standpoint. I would prefer that both the Contrabasson and tuba were on stage. If you have the time to wade through this reply these would be my solutions:

1. In the Chorale style opening of the 4th movement I would use Contra. I feel this lends a better "bass sound" to this section. The contra has a little more carrying power, to my ears, and blends with the overall woodwinf quality that is prevelant. Also, the bass trombone is voiced in such a way as to give the "brassier" context that may be needed.

2. From the 6/8 on I would use the tuba as I think this section, although many spots are marked pp, need a little bit more punch to the sound. Personally, I would make judiscious use of octaving in the part. Not everything has to be played down an octave. One thing I always have to remember is that the tessitura of the bass part and contrabassoon part is not high, thus I would never get to "that range" (low stuff)where the tuba sticks out. From the Allegro Maestoso forward, both instruments could be used. Again, I wouldn't need the tuba in the lowest part of the range, but as I sit and look at the score, I would make use of octaves with the bass trombone.

3. Starting at C, contra only. Sorry, but even though it is large, that particular instrument has a more nimble "feel" (mind you I am not castigating the tuba, merely how it feels TO ME on the running stuff.

4. D-E both. The tuba adds the prescence of sound.

5. The same thoughts apply for the rest of the movement.

Your question is how would I handle it if the tuba was the only subsitute for the contra. I don't see the need for the tuba, especially F, to be caught way under the staff, subsequently anything below low BBb I think could be played up an octave with the rest of the piece being played an octave lower with special care taken when that particular line is doubled in the bass bone to be in octaves. It is my contention that this piece would be perfect on a 1845U-CC with the same rules applying. As much as I like the F in the right hands, there is something to be said for the "gravitas" that a CC tuba (not a BAT) adds to the sound. Personally, the way you described your performance would make me very happy. You are a good enough musician to know when to say when. More often than not, the contra will play the part. I simply think it is the wrong "voice" for major portions of the movement thus my desire to have both. But, money rules.

Hope this wasn't too muddled.

Chuck

This was an exceptionally fine performance! About a dozen or so times during the concert, I broke out in an uncontrollable huge grin. Christopher Martin played wonderfully. The only possible improvement in that regard would have been to bring "Bud" back for the day.

I am a subscriber and attend about 20 or so CSO performances every year. I've always enjoyed Dutoit's many visits to town and this was no exception.

As far as the French tuba...it sounded like a euphonium to me. Larry Zalkind has a big beautiful sound, and played well. No surprise there, but I have to admit that I'd rather have heard Gene. During the lecture part of the concert, Mr. Zalkind played an excerpt from Bydlo. I think it would have been interesting for the audience to also have heard an example of Gene and his York in order to compare the two.

Hey Gene! This is Rosey, Charlie's old student. You guys were unbelieveble as usual!!! Didn't Dutoit do last season's Beyond the Score version of Planets? Looking forward to Friday afternoon's Shostakovich 5th.

Evil Ronnie

This was a fantastic experience. My wife and I really enjoyed all the history that was brought to life in the first half of the program. The performance in the 2nd half was exceptional and quite stirring. My wife and I had a great time hanging with some friends there as well.

I was able to get this photo of Larry Zalkind and Gene Pokorny on my cell phone after the show:



Cheers.
Roger

The horn Larry used was borrowed from Gary Ofenloch's wall, where it was hanging as a decoration. True story.

NB: The Mendelsohn Reformation works great on ophicleide

J.c.S.