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Last night I attended a fine concert by the Orchestra of his 8th symphony. The conductor was one of my favorites, too, Simon Rattle. The orchestra played very well under him. I had 2 observations: 1-Rattle , during the bows at the end, walked all over the orchestra shaking hands, basses, Carol, tympanist, trumpets, everyone, not just the concertmaster and maybe the principle cellist. I liked the gesture, and the players responded very well to him.
2- This is the only time I have seen this: 4 guys carrying a matched set of oval baritones came out and set up across the back, on the opposite side of the percussion from the trombones and tuba. Directly behind the horns, they seemed to play as a bass clef version of the french horns, mostly during the 3rd and 4th movements. Anyone familiar with this symphony? Is this a standard instrumentation for this piece? It was very beautiful orchestration, lending another whole layer of sonority.
As always, Carol was rock solid, possessing, dare I say it, a "world class sound"?!

scottw wrote:This is the only time I have seen this: 4 guys carrying a matched set of oval baritones came out and set up across the back, on the opposite side of the percussion from the trombones and tuba. Directly behind the horns, they seemed to play as a bass clef version of the french horns, mostly during the 3rd and 4th movements. Anyone familiar with this symphony? Is this a standard instrumentation for this piece? It was very beautiful orchestration, lending another whole layer of sonority.

You saw Wagner tubas! A very common practice (if you can get a set to play the parts). Bruckner 7 uses them as well. They add a lot to the overall sound. I remember seeing a recent performance of the Chicago Symphony doing Bruckner 7 and the Wagner tubas were outstanding and got the first solo bow. Very cool!

CC wrote:

scottw wrote:This is the only time I have seen this: 4 guys carrying a matched set of oval baritones came out and set up across the back, on the opposite side of the percussion from the trombones and tuba. Directly behind the horns, they seemed to play as a bass clef version of the french horns, mostly during the 3rd and 4th movements. Anyone familiar with this symphony? Is this a standard instrumentation for this piece? It was very beautiful orchestration, lending another whole layer of sonority.

You saw Wagner tubas! A very common practice (if you can get a set to play the parts). Bruckner 7 uses them as well. They add a lot to the overall sound. I remember seeing a recent performance of the Chicago Symphony doing Bruckner 7 and the Wagner tubas were outstanding and got the first solo bow. Very cool!

Thanks so much, Chris, for that information. I have never actually seen a Wagner tuba--much less a matched set of 4!-- but they added a lovely line of harmony.This must be why I thought they were almost a bass clef version of horns--they are!