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I'm curious as to what tuba Steven Campbell normally uses in the Minnesota Orchestra. They'll be recording ALL of the Mahler symphonies for the BIS label. That should be quite a show.

Barry Guerrero

As far as I know, he used to use a PT6, and recently(?) switched to the MRP. It's about a 10 minute walk from my house, I'll have to make it over there for a few!

That's the rotary valve CC I hope to someday trade my "Neptune" towards. Interesting. Thanks.

http://www.b-and-s.com/en/instruments/c-tubas/mrp-c/" target="_blank" target="_blank

Yes, played one at itec last year. Was one of the few tubas I lusted after. And yes, I may have to own the new Mahler recording when available.

He's currently playing on a B&S MRP CC tuba. Has been for over a year I believe.

Yep he switched to the rotary tuba. Mouthpiece is a Monette 94 or 98. As an aside, I heard their Mahler 2 broadcast live a couple Fridays back and there was something to be desired. The performance itself seemed a little ho-hum. The horns were very muffled and the rest of the brass wasn't all that well miked either. Hopefully that changes for the recordings.

I think that hall and the seating arrangement are ho hum there. It's a very good group, though.

Heard the Mahler broadcast, Vanska's pacing might have not been to everyone's liking. The Prokofiev 5 and Mathis der Maler, they(he) were killing it.

doublebuzzing wrote:Yep he switched to the rotary tuba. Mouthpiece is a Monette 94 or 98. As an aside, I heard their Mahler 2 broadcast live a couple Fridays back and there was something to be desired. The performance itself seemed a little ho-hum. The horns were very muffled and the rest of the brass wasn't all that well miked either. Hopefully that changes for the recordings.

I thought he was previously using a PT6, not a PT6P? Meh, who cares. He sounds great!

The BIS label generally makes excellent sounding recordings, so I'm sure the brass will be plenty audible on their upcoming Mahler recordings.

He used to use a PT6P for many years with the orchestra. Sounds great either way. I don't notice a difference really. I don't know what is up with that hall. It seems like it has a brilliant acoustic but the broadcasts are strange since the renovation. It used to be unbelievably lively in that hall. Now the horns always seem like they are in another room.

I only made it to one performance last year (Dvorak , and also thought the horn sound was underwhelming, but not for a lack of effort. I've always thought their seating arrangement could have something to do it as well...?

Interesting. If the horns aren't cutting through, they should probably experiment moving them elsewhere.

In a community orchestra performance of Mahler 6 (I've been in several) - performed in a dead sounding multipurpose hall - I talked the conductor into placing the horns across the back, dead center. It made a HUGE difference. No pun intended, but it gave them the confidence to 'take the bull by the horns'.