Your favorite piece of music....

[AndyCat]

Immortal Bach - Knut Nystedt

[Steve Marcus]

"O Magnum Mysterium" by Morten Lauridsen - the original choral version

My wife and I have sung this beautiful piece several times as members of Chicago Master Singers in the glorious acoustics of Divine Word Chapel at Techny, near Northbrook, IL. One of those performances in particular was spine-tingling; the a cappella piece ended as it started in perfect D Major. The story, perhaps apocryphal, is that Mrs. Lauridsen was in the audience; she proclaimed that performance exceeded the quality of the LA Master Chorale, the ensemble to whom the piece is dedicated.

My own favorite piece without tuba is Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. I'd like the final movement of that piece to be played at my funeral, which I hope isn't any time soon.

[Richardrichard9]

Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture by Glinka... always been one of my favorites..

As well as Rossini's Overture the Barber of Seville

[eupher61]

unfortunately, the Dvorak Cello Concerto has a tuba part, so that's out...it's not the tuba aspect that attracts me to it, though.

I've got it... Dvorak's 9th!

[SplatterTone]

No favorite, but here are some honorable mentions.

Orlando Gibbons at his finest. I debated whether to go with "Hosanna to the Son of David" or "O Clap Your Hands" and went with the latter. This was originally released on a two LP (vinyl) set by Nonesuch. A compilation was later done to one CD. The idiot that did it should have been severely slapped for leaving off "This is the Record of John". I have to wonder if the group, The Clerkes of Oxenford, were a sort of predecessor to The Talis Scholars.
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/misc/o_clap_hands.wma

Vierne's "Messe Solenelle". Here is the Gloria featuring the big, bad organ at Notre Dame cathedral with the late Pierre Cochereau serving as organ grinder. I think this recording has been out of print for quite some time. Such a shame.
http://t-recs.net/mpegs/misc/vierne_gloria.wma

And, if anybody really, really wants it, I can rip the nearly 20 minutes of Philippe Lefebvre playing Durufle's "Prelude, Adagio et Choral Varie Sur Le Veni Creator" on the organ at Chartes. This is some serious, whup *** playing of some whup *** music on a whup *** organ. Another CD that is no longer is print. Tch tch.

[Richardrichard9]

Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture by Glinka... always been one of my favorites..

As well as Rossini's Overture the Barber of Seville

Opps.. I am not sure if either of these have a tuba part....

Without a tuba part... I would say Ashoken Farewell

[The Jackson]

I don't believe the Glinka has a tuba part (School orchestra is going to be playing it in a few months, so I should know!).

Steve Reich's "Different Trains". Ho man...

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Opps.. I am not sure if either of these have a tuba part....

Without a tuba part... I would say Ashoken Farewell

Neither, in fact, has a tuba part.

The question about the Glinka is understandable, but there is a very obvious reason why the music of Rossini would not have a tuba part. I'll bet you can find it with a bare minimum of google effort.

[eupher61]

well, Todd, he did write after William Tell, just not operas. I don't know if your apparent reasoning really holds total water or not. But, yeah, I actually would tend to agree with you.

[tubadude08]

Fierlicher Einzug by Strauss (Band arrangment)
Symphony No. 4 by Bruckner
Piano Concerto No. 1 by Tchaikovsky
Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg by Wagner

[OldsRecording]

I really dig the Trout Quintet. I also can spend a nice evening with the Beethoven piano sonatas.

Let's not forget the original Die Forelle by Schubert, also Linden Lea by Vaughan Williams.

[PWtuba]

In one of the youth orchestras I was in, we played Russlan and Ludmilla. The conductor wanted there to be a tuba part, so my dad "constructed" one by taking the contrabassoon part and the bass part and sort of combining them. I would have to say it is also one of my favorite pieces of music.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

The conductor wanted there to be a tuba part

My kind of conductor.

Once, I "wanted" there to be a more substantial tuba part to Dvorak's New World Symphony, so I played along with the 3rd trombone. I got found out, and received a lecture about "composer integrity" from the conductor.

[Steve Marcus]

Once, I "wanted" there to be a more substantial tuba part to Dvorak's New World Symphony, so I played along with the 3rd trombone. I got found out, and received a lecture about "composer integrity" from the conductor.

Robert Ryker arranged a very musical, independent tuba part for an orchestral performance of the first, second and fourth movements of the New World Symphony (the Scherzo is still marked tacet). However, despite the quality of the arranged part, it would still be a good idea to show ot to the conductor and get his/her permission before striking out on your own with notes that are not in the conductor's score.

[Richardrichard9]

Opps.. I am not sure if either of these have a tuba part....

Without a tuba part... I would say Ashoken Farewell

Neither, in fact, has a tuba part.

The question about the Glinka is understandable, but there is a very obvious reason why the music of Rossini would not have a tuba part. I'll bet you can find it with a bare minimum of google effort.

I'm not sure I could find the reason you were talking about...

However I didn't know because I am playing The William Tell Overture in Orchestra and there is in fact a tuba part.

[eupher61]

you're playing an edition, then. William Tell was the last of the Rossini's operas, written in 1829. The tuba wasn't even invented until 1835, and Rossini didn't write for ophicleide or cimbasso. (well, let me mumble the ophicleide aspect, because I'm not sure about that.)

But, Rossini didn't write for tuba in any of his later works, either, which (if memory serves properly) were mostly sacred or semi-sacred pieces.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

However I didn't know because I am playing The William Tell Overture in Orchestra and there is in fact a tuba part.

Then you, my friend, are playing either an arrangement of the original, or a "created" tuba part that the composer never wrote.

Rossini didn't write any operas after 1829 (William Tell was, in fact, the last one he wrote in that year). The tuba wasn't used in orchestras until several years after that. The Symphonie Fantastique is widely accepted to be the first piece to use tuba, having first been scored for two ophicleides and later reorchestrated by Berlioz for tubas sometime after completion in 1830.

The Barber of Seville was completed in 1816...way too early to have a tuba part, to answer your original question.

[Richardrichard9]

However I didn't know because I am playing The William Tell Overture in Orchestra and there is in fact a tuba part.

Then you, my friend, are playing either an arrangement of the original, or a "created" tuba part that the composer never wrote.

Rossini didn't write any operas after 1829 (William Tell was, in fact, the last one he wrote in that year). The tuba wasn't used in orchestras until several years after that. The Symphonie Fantastique is widely accepted to be the first piece to use tuba, having first been scored for two ophicleides and later reorchestrated by Berlioz for tubas sometime after completion in 1830.

The Barber of Seville was completed in 1816...way too early to have a tuba part, to answer your original question.

Got it.. Thanks for the info