The little horn on the Planets

[Tom]

The '72 (I think...someone will correct me if I'm wrong) LA/Mehta Planets recording seems to be discussed to death on this forum year after year.

If I recall correctly, all of the information you are looking for has been posted at one time or another on the board and can be found in the archives. I'd suggest the "who played tuba..." section, as this is where most of the posts on the subject in the last few years have been made.

[Tom]

I guess the posts I had in mind were older than I tought, so try this:


Try the "search old TubeNet" box...

type in the following exactly as I've written it:

planets AND tenor

or try:

planets AND euphonium

Both options should yield some interesting reading for you. Buried in the results somewhere is a debate about exactly what kind of tenor tuba it was along with some discussion of modern performance practice, who played it, etc.


-Tom

[Wyvern]

Is this the thread you are referring?

http://www.chisham.com/tips/bbs/mar2004 ... 68570.html

I would agree with Rick in that debate that as the part is written in Bb transposed treble clef, like the euphonium part in brass bands, that it is the euphonium which Holst intended to be used. There would unlikely to have been any German style rotary tenor tubas used in Britain at that time.

I think the term "Tenor Tuba" is only used as the term "Euphonium" would have been unknown in orchestras.

[Posaune2]

When I play it I use a small euph (Yamaha 321) and a fairly shallow mouthpiece. What I'm looking for is a fairly bright, penetrating, focused, muscular sound, especially on Mars. The last thing I want is a stereotypical warm, mellow, dark, huge euphonium sound.

The sound I want for Planets is very similar to what I want in Mahler 7th, as opposed to Bydlo or the Strauss tone poems.

Eric Carlson

[Eupher6]

I find it difficult to believe that a competent eupher, playing a modern instrument (meaning large bore, large bell) can't muster the cajones to play over the top of the orchestra on Mars.

It is really the single piece of music I can think of in which the eupher can think "projection" rather than "blend" and get away with it.