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Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 8:31 pm
by THE TUBA
Sam Pilafian's Relentless Grooves are great.
Set #1 "Cuba" lies better for contrabass and set #2 "Armenia" lies better for bass, but both can be played on big or little horn. Deanna Swoboda has a great CD (Shamanic Journey) with #1 and Tom McCaslin has a great CD (Inside Out) with #2.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:22 am
by brendanige
I really enjoy New England Reveries by Neal Corwell.
He is a fantastic player and one story I've heard behind him is that he left his job with a military band and then years later came back and won his job through blind audition. Not sure 100 percent on if it's true, but seems like something he could do and I've heard it from many people. I've always loved the clarity players like he and Dave werden got and respect how well they played horns like the Besson New Standard in tune.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 10:45 am
by tubaphillips
groth wrote:russiantuba wrote:With COVID-19 posing issues for students to complete degree recitals, there is a shift to doing unaccompanied pieces or pieces with electronic accompaniment. I’ve been doing these for years and made my DMA lecture recital a focus on these. I think everyone should list their favorites so we have a list for people to search.
My favorite is Ben McMillan’s Tomes of Redemption. Having known Ben for years and playing another one of his cinematic sounding pieces and led a consortium of 25 players to complete the trilogy. Here is my performance from 2019.
https://soundcloud.com/russiantuba/tomes-of-redemption. This piece has significance to be because I felt trapped and had to slay the dragon to overcome. The storyline is just that, the hero has to slay a dragon to redeem themselves. I won’t lie, I was scared to put on the faculty recital, and slaying the dragon during the 3rd movement was one of the most moving musical experiences I’ve had on stage, proving a fact I had believed a long time, music is a reflection of the soul.
Another one I have come to connect with is Andy Scott’s My Mountaintop. Originally for Saxophone, it has been transcribed for several instruments. It has spoken text by Lehm Sissay regarding a perilous journey which he overcame. The music is freeing and allows the soloist a ton of expression, and for those who are classically trained to play exactly what is on the page, it pushes the envelope in terms of expression and freedom to an extent. The spoken text adds to the total Gesamtkunstwerk of the work.
I have been working up another recital focusing on this medium of works as it makes travel and recruitment trips easier and with the wide array of sounds, keeps audiences interested. Many of these works are self published and such, so I am excited to hear your favorites as well.
Tomes of Redemption is a magnificent piece of work, it literally would take He-Man to play that as well as he did. Thanks for the great heads up on that.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think his music is trash. His music literally doesn’t get played outside of tuba nerd circles. He’s also said some overtly antisemitic things on social media and posted Qanon videos. As a Jewish person you better believe I won’t be going to any recitals with Ben’s music programmed. I’ve heard the same thing from other Jewish colleagues. I’m honestly surprised ITEA hasn’t taken away his awards, but I guess it speaks to how out of touch with the world at large ITEA is. I’ve toured all over the world playing tuba with a group that has 1.2 million fans on Facebook, worked for the state dept in Nigeria as a cultural ambassador, done jingles for Keurig, and multiple national TV spots. In many ways I like to think that I have my finger on the pulse on what’s going on in the world of tuba and, to me, Ben McMillan was a literal nobody until he made a racist post on Facebook and got called out for it.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 11:34 am
by brendanige
Regarding Harry's post being reported, I mentioned to Harry that calling Ben's music trash may be going a hair too far. However, I will not tone police Harry and ask him to edit his post. That being said, recanting his anecdotal experience with Ben McMillan and prejudice as a Jewish tuba player is allowed. I do believe that mentioning Ben and He-man in the same thread goes a bit far based on the events in the tuba community so far. Nonetheless, I have not moderated or censored anyone on this post. (edit: I ended up having to) Harry's response is warranted. It stands. I hope we can talk about pieces with electronic tuba, but if a Jewish man wants to bring up issues of prejudice relevant to the community, that is fine and should be welcomed. Whether you agree or not, his perspective should be allowed to stand. I, personally, will not play Ben's music and I have made that clear on many forums.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 12:39 pm
by tubaphillips
djwpe wrote:tubaphillips wrote:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think his music is trash. His music literally doesn’t get played outside of tuba nerd circles. He’s also said some overtly antisemitic things on social media and posted Qanon videos. As a Jewish person you better believe I won’t be going to any recitals with Ben’s music programmed. I’ve heard the same thing from other Jewish colleagues. I’m honestly surprised ITEA hasn’t taken away his awards, but I guess it speaks to how out of touch with the world at large ITEA is. I’ve toured all over the world playing tuba with a group that has 1.2 million fans on Facebook, worked for the state dept in Nigeria as a cultural ambassador, done jingles for Keurig, and multiple national TV spots. In many ways I like to think that I have my finger on the pulse on what’s going on in the world of tuba and, to me, Ben McMillan was a literal nobody until he made a racist post on Facebook and got called out for it.
Most tuba music doesn't get programmed outside of tuba nerd circles. What specific anti-semitic things has Ben posted? I've seen none, and I'm in an equal position to be sensitive to that to you, Harry.
Don Winston
I’m happy to explain. Ben McMillan said a few times that George Soros is funding BLM. Which is a debunked right wing conspiracy theory that paints another prominent Jewish person as plotting to take over the world. Which in case you don’t know, that is an antisemitic thing to say. It’s the same narrative was used to justify the racial cleansing in Europe during world war 2 and is unfortunately a prominent theme in the conspiracy theory community. This prompted David Saltzman to cancel his commission from McMillan and vow to never play his piece. All the Jewish members of the tuba community I’ve talked to feel the same way. To an overwhelmingly majority of Jewish members of the tuba community, programming his music after he brought up old antisemitic tropes as part of a debunked conspiracy theory is a slap in the face. McMillan didn’t say these things on private conversations either. This was all said on public posts
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:02 pm
by tubaphillips
groth wrote:tubaphillips wrote:djwpe wrote:
I'm also opposed to George Soros. Am I an antisemite, too?
Before you answer that, you should know that I'm Jewish. Does that change your answer?
You’re entitled to your opinion, however, if you say antisemitic things like “gEoRgE sOrOs Is FuNdInG bLm” You’re gonna get some well deserved heat for saying it.
That has nothing to do with Soros or being Jewish. It's simply implying (just as people imply TubeNet was a former den of Nazis) that a rich billionaire had financial ties with a social movement in the U.S. And so what? It's his money and if he chose to fund it let him.
It’s part of much more overtly anti Jewish debunked Qanon conspiracy theory. The ADL spells it out quite nicely in this article.
https://www.adl.org/blog/the-antisemiti ... y-theories" target="_blank Connect with me on Facebook and I’ll be happy to share screenshots.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 3:31 pm
by thatawkwardtuba
Getting back to the topic at hand, I really like "Dyadic Affinities" by Asha Srinivasan.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 5:39 pm
by tubaphillips
Doc wrote:tubaphillips wrote:djwpe wrote:
I'm also opposed to George Soros. Am I an antisemite, too?
Before you answer that, you should know that I'm Jewish. Does that change your answer?
You’re entitled to your opinion, however, if you say antisemitic things like “gEoRgE sOrOs Is FuNdInG bLm” You’re gonna get some well deserved heat for saying it.
That may be false, but it is not inherently anti-Semitic - there is no mention of him being Jewish in that statement alone. If someone said, "that *&^%$ Jew George Soros is..." that is different.
“A person who promotes a Soros conspiracy theory may not intend to promulgate antisemitism. But Soros’ Jewish identity is so well-known that in many cases it is hard not to infer that meaning. This is especially true when Soros-related conspiracy theories include other well-worn antisemitic tropes such as control of the media or banks; references to undermining societies or destabilizing countries; or language that hearkens back to the medieval blood libels and the characterization of Jews as evil, demonic, or agents of the antichrist.
Even if no antisemitic insinuation is intended, casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes has the effect of mainstreaming antisemitic tropes and giving support, however unwitting, to bona fide antisemites and extremists who disseminate these ideas knowingly and with malice.”
https://www.adl.org/blog/the-antisemiti ... y-theories" target="_blank
You add the fact that McMillian posted Qanon videos and used known hate symbols like the frog emoji and it begins to be very difficult to argue that he doesn’t know what he’s doing and isn’t a genuine antisemite, and just like it says above, even if he didn’t do it intentionally it is still promoting untrue antisemitic tropes that translate into real physical violence against Jewish people.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 5:58 pm
by CaptainNemo
Not to act as a moderator but I don't think the topic of this forum leaves room for a debate about George Soros. Someone said they didn't want to listen to or play a certain piece because the composer was anti-Semitic (or at least acted in anti-Semitic ways).
That should be all we need to talk about - it's not the purpose of this board to define what an individual does or does not want to play, nor to define what anti-Semitism is. The post makes clear that this particular piece and composer are ethically dubious, and it is up to future readers of the board to make of that information what they will when they program their concerts and choose who to study.
That said, I'd like to submit Daniel Herskedal's The Lighthouse as one of my favorite tuba recordings, alongside Baadsviik Ferry Tales and Pat Sheridan's BonBons.
If any of those three are problematic individuals, let me know and I'll revise my preferences and future opinions about them.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 6:32 pm
by CaptainNemo
djwpe wrote:
Unsubstantiated allegations were made about a composer being antisemitic. As far as I am concerned, those allegations remain unsubstantiated. That's the point of the argument. Saying "George Soros funds BLM" (which happens to be true) is not, in and of itself, antisemitic. Therefore, if that's all that Harry can offer, then I believe he has not proven his initial thesis.
My argument is that someone gave a reason for not liking a certain composer, and that it isn't an appropriate topic of this board to prove/disprove anything. It is a debate to be had for sure, but in my opinion not one to be had on a thread about favorite recordings.
Think of the future tubists looking for good recordings to study coming across this thread and finding pages and pages of debate about George Soros instead of a repository of good recordings to study. I would argue that you and Harry take this at the very least to a DM (or even email) instead of making this thread the battleground for your debate. I'm inclined to believe that many users of this site would prefer that, as this is Tubenet, not GeorgeSorosNet.
If a future reader has concerns about this particular composer, the allegations should be noted and I invite them to make their own research into their truth rather than have a debate here, especially as the range of acceptable behavior may be different for that particular tubist than it is for you (and in that case their audience will be the judges of their morals).
I fully expect this post to be deleted (as it, too, is outside the scope of the OP) but I hope it has some influence over the nature of debate on this forum. I don't think this kind of argument was the vision when Tubenet was founded, and I don't think the majority of users here want it to be.
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:05 pm
by tubaphillips
You all can say it’s not true and try to gaslight me but I’m the only one here with receipts. The ADL agrees with me that what Ben McMillan said was indeed hate speech. None of you have made any arguments beyond ‘I don’t think this is true’. If it’s so easy to prove then where are your cited sources? Are you gonna even address the points I brought up from the ADL article I cited. If you wanna program a living composer who unapologetically spews hate speech you’ll have to deal with the consequences of doing so. Programming Ben McMillan means you’re gonna draw the ire of the Jewish community and their ally’s. If y’all think you can make a living without our support go ahead, but what I won’t stand for is being gaslit. What Ben said was antisemitic. Full stop. Y’all love free speech until you’re being criticized or held accountable for what y’all said. Then it’s tone policing and reporting posts. The right claims to be all about facts and logic. Where’s the facts? Where’s the logic?
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:32 pm
by brendanige
Cleaned up the thread. Harry has presented information from the ADL asserting his claims. Learn, make your own decisions and move on. I agree with you CaptainNemo and your posts will not be deleted. For all those claiming things about Mahler, Strauss, Wagner, you're right. These are things to consider as well.
Lastly, this is an awesome list for tuba and electronics...
https://composerstubaguide.blog/reperto ... ectronics/" target="_blank
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 10:19 pm
by jtuba
What don't I know about Mahler?
What I think I know is he converted from Judaism to escape persecution in Vienna, and that didn't help. His music was prohibited during the Third Reich.
Then there's this article by Alex Weiser:
https://www.yivo.org/Gustav-Mahler-is-a-Jewish-Composer" target="_blank
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 10:22 pm
by brendanige
Good question jtuba! I don't know about Mahler either.... always eager to learn!
Re: What are your favorite Tuba + Recording Works
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2020 11:26 pm
by FarahShazam
Another one I have come to connect with is Andy Scott’s My Mountaintop. Originally for Saxophone, it has been transcribed for several instruments. It has spoken text by Lehm Sissay regarding a perilous journey which he overcame. The music is freeing and allows the soloist a ton of expression, and for those who are classically trained to play exactly what is on the page, it pushes the envelope in terms of expression and freedom to an extent. The spoken text adds to the total Gesamtkunstwerk of the work.
I want to hear about this one.