Who do YOU wish had a written a tuba/euph solo?

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:52 pm

When I was in college, I played a Chopin transcription for a jury and got a snicker along with my grade (and I don't mean a candy bar!) Tubas were around when Chopin was alive. He had access to them. If I remember correctly, only one of his piano concertos has a tuba part and it's listed as being optional.

Those of you who know my criteria for selecting a work for recital know that audience appeal is most important. This was even true when I was in college and grad school--even for those Friday afternoon lab recitals. I went to two schools (the ones I graduated from) whose faculties didn't act too favorably about "experimental music" (unless it was half-way pleasant). So, fortunately for me, after I returned to college to finish my degrees as an older student, I never had to play anything uncomfortable.

There are some lesser known composers for the tuba who put out some good music that is audience-friendly:
-Alexei Lebedev (actually a tuba player who has been mentioned here)
-Alexander Tcherepnin (Russian composer who lived in France with his Chinese wife)
-uh... I can't think of anyone else right now... it's late here in Vietnam...

Oh, and for Joe, here is Earle Hagen's personal web page:

http://www.earlehagen.net/

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:46 pm

The suite of preludes that was transcribed by Sharon Davis.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:52 pm

Piano. The tuba played the top line.

Immediately after I played it, I knew they were right. But, hey... I got my A. Had I tried that again I wouldn't have been so lucky.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:55 pm

If you check, Chopin really didn't write anything for any instrument but piano. It's another reason why I say I don't think you'd want him to write a tuba piece for you. He didn't write for anything except piano and piano with orchestra accompaniment.

No wonder my jury was right.

Tubaguyry · Post by **Tubaguyry** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 5:59 pm

LoyalTubist wrote:If you check, Chopin really didn't write anything for any instrument but piano.

Of course he didn't. But the idea of this thread was to list those composers whom we would ask to write for us if we could. Just because he didn't doesn't mean he couldn't. Anyone can be persuaded to do anything. You must simply present him or her with the right motivation.

Kevin Hendrick · Post by **Kevin Hendrick** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:14 pm

Herbert L. Clarke

BriceT · Post by **BriceT** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:54 pm

Hector Berlioz!

keronarts · Post by **keronarts** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:33 am

Strong agreement here with some who've suggested Frank Zappa, perhaps even Jim Morrison or Elvis -- imagine that -- tuba by the Pelvis! Then also, if there had been more compelling material to come out of some the great big bands -- Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Count Basie -- along with even some of the post-WWII jazzers -- Miles, Bird, Theolonius, Maynard -- well the popular demand for tuba material would be out there. Then, how could the Lennie Bernsteins, Gershwins, Grofes avoid it?

One area where there seems to be a dearth of tuba imagining is how it could interphase with and perhaps illuminate native American music. How could we regard our instrument differently with the addition of native American material, much of which was a rich and vibrant culture before any of our ancestors arrived here? What about concerti by or in format of Navaho or Iroquois music?

eupher61 · Post by **eupher61** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:56 pm

well, since Presley didn't actually write any songs for himself...

and Bernstein did, as noted above..."Waltz for Mippy III"

keronarts · Post by **keronarts** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:14 am

The point REALLY was that if Elvis had taken more of a commending role in instrumentation, arranging, orchestrating -- especially in the earlier part of his career before the "Viva Las Vegas" era -- perhaps there might have been more presence of the instrument. That "presence" may not have even resulted in huge original tracts for us -- but then perhaps some of the people riding the art wave of the 60s might have seen the light of little gems cropping up here and there, and pushed for bold, new directions when there was genuine, broad cultural support for just that. In Birth of the Cool, Miles Davis had Bill Barber on tuba -- all that may have been a result of the fact that Miles did in fact play in a brass quintet at Juilliard a few years earlier, and actually had some appreciation for our instrument. Good things don't necessarily blossom immediately, but, build and cultivate the right succession of steps, and that BIG plunge becomes a little one for LOTS of people ....

Joe Novotny used to say that Lennie Bernstein used and referred to our instrument MUCH better than did Pierre Boulez -- not really surprising, when you look at Boulez scores. But even someone like Bernstein, whose very broad-based genius might likewise have been influenced by a growing wave of acceptance of tuba potential, might have done something much more ambitious than merely Mippy III. By no stretch a waste of time, but it seems relevant to wonder what REALLY might have been.