Dennis Brain Cadenza

[mark38655]

Over the weekend my daughter and I wrote out a cadenza for an upcoming jury. Here is a PDF of the cadenza to the first movement of the Mozart Horn Concerto No. 3 by Dennis Brain. Click the green download button in the center then select "free download".

https://rapidshare.com/files/2876977392 ... a_Part.pdf

I don't know of any copyright issues, but if there are any I'll remove the link.

Some may feel that playing horn music is a bad idea for a tubaist, but I practiced emulating Dennis Brain's version of Mozart when I was young and think it was a very good exercise in style study for me.

[Art Hovey]

A couple of Brain's Mozart cadenzas were published in the TUBA Journal some years ago. I tore out the page and have it upstairs in my practice collection. I remember it because on the reverse side of the page was an advertisement for Mirafone's new "Pertinent (sic) brasses". (They meant "Perinet", but some editor had never heard of the inventor of piston valves.) I will post a scan tomorrow if I remember.

[ralphbsz]

Some may feel that playing horn music is a bad idea for a tubaist, but I practiced emulating Dennis Brain's version of Mozart when I was young and think it was a very good exercise in style study for me.

He goes a little too fast. My son is currently emulating Barry Tuckwell instead.

(Disclaimer: Even though he listens to the Brain, Tuckwell and Baumann recordings of the D major concerto being played on a real horn, his tuba version is a pretty weak imitation, and nobody would mistake it for the real thing).

[Ken Herrick]

There is certainly NOTHING wrong with the idea of studying the Mozart horn concerti!!! It is just a shame that the lives of the Mozarts and the 'invention' of the tuba were not concurrent. I use the plural as Wolfgang's father Leopold wrote some nice horn stuff too. These compositions are emminently 'playable' on tuba, especially on bass - but very accessible for contra as well - and are very good music.
A tubist should not be in any way embarrassed to borrow 'horn' music for performance purposes as they are recognised by a large potential audience for what they are: they are music of the finest calibre.

The potential trap is to try to show off rather than make them examples of the fine music they are. A decent university level tubist should find them relatively easy to play technically. The Musical side is something else again. Hornists are sometimes forgiven for some technical indescretions for which a tubist would not be forgiven. These works are easier for us than for our poor plate of spaghetti players on a purely technical basis. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO............. if you want to perform them - make even better 'music' than those poor, mad contorionists of small bore brass tubing.

This line of attack would also apply to other works such as the R Strauss Concerto No 1 for horn.

As two of my teachers, Jake and Harvey, often said, borrow material from anywhere, then make it yours. Pay the composer back for the material by making it so good that they would wish they had written for tuba in the first place.

Today's upcoming performers are in a very advantageous position compared to what the likes of Jake, Harvey, Bill, Rex, and even such mere mortals as myself were in. You have contemporary composers writing quality compositions for you. For that Harvey in particular was THE champion. In the past 20 to 40 years a number of fine performers have brought the tuba from the novelty class where Asleep in the Deep or The Jolly Farmer Goes to Town, or Beelzebub were our repertoir. We can now choose from Bach, Haydn, Mozart and so on right up to our contemporaries and we even had an English gent write a concerto for us almost half a century ago.

Then to add to all the fun of playing tuba, the newer generation has the luxury of having a multitude of quality instruments from which to choose as their tools. All the chatter about Asian vs American vs German, and BBb vs CC vs EEb, vs F and so on is mere distraction. The ultimate goal is having true music come out of the bell.

[mark38655]

borrow material from anywhere, then make it yours.

I think I'll include that in a collection of quotes I'm compiling for another project.

[Art Hovey]

Here's the Dennis Brain transcription that appeared in the TUBA Journal. (Sorry, but I don't know what year or what issue it was in.)


Here's a PDF version with better resolution:
http://www.box.com/s/07b6aba6dff0375f0b12

Here's the other side of the page, with the amusing spelling:


PDF version: http://www.box.com/s/29b0794cd8c22c03d4ac

[mark38655]

Art, thanks for posting the version from the Tuba Journal. I didn't have the 4th concerto so it will be good to have it as a reference.

In the last group of notes on the first line of the Tuba Journal version of the 3rd concerto, the F# and A natural are missing (compared to what I hear when I listen to Dennis Brain's recording, and the rhythm is simplified as a result).

[mark38655]

Here is an edited (and improved) version of the cadenza.

https://rapidshare.com/files/3252328968 ... a_Part.pdf