Carmina Burana tuba part?

[Wyvern]

It is a few years since I played Carmina Burana (one of my first orchestral concerts), so don't remember details of the music, but do remember what an exilarating experience it was with large choir behind.

At that time I only had my old Besson 981 Eb and I was hyperventilating in the finale trying to keep up

[pierso20]

It is a few years since I played Carmina Burana with orchestra, so don't remember details of the music, but do remember what an exilarating experience it was with large choir behind. At that time I only had my old Besson 981 Eb and I was hyperventilating in the finale trying to keep up

Actually, the time I did it last was 6 years ago in High school. We did the FULL band arrangement that I'm doing currently AND we had a 100 voice choir behind us...(and these were GREAT high school ensembles).

needless to say...it was fun....it was loud.....AWESOME>

[pierso20]

Dress rehearsal before the concert on Sunday...

Time to play the Gb....

Nailed a B natural....and then jumped to the Gb.......A wonderful V-I.....

However, at the concert I do have to say I nailed that Gb.....unfortunately it's amazing how distracted I was in the whole piece before the note.....all that nervousness for ONE note!!!

Cheers!

[Geotuba]

This thread caught my attention as I am booked to play this on May 30th and the last time I played it was in 1975 or thereabouts. I remembered about the Es (including the solo-ish ones one bar after rehearsal mark 97 that no-one seems to have mentioned) but now the discussion on the Gb has got me thinking and researching. I dug out a couple of recordings - my old DG LP of the German Opera Chorus and Orchestra (with Fischer-Dieskau) conducted by Eugen Jochum and the Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra recording. Boy what a difference in the Gb's between those two performances. The German one is clearly a BAT and is played as written (ff accented with diminuendo) whereas the Philadelphia one doesn't even sound like a tuba (in fact I thought it was a French Horn when I first heard it) and does a short cresc. then dim.

Any comments?

Now, as for getting the pitch, it is easy enough the way the baritone sings it on the DG recording - you can pick it up from him. But I'm not sure what is actually written (or how the soloist in my performance will do it) - any other comments on that?

[Rick Denney]

Now, as for getting the pitch, it is easy enough the way the baritone sings it on the DG recording - you can pick it up from him. But I'm not sure what is actually written (or how the soloist in my performance will do it) - any other comments on that?

Different conductors request different effects, and sometimes those are even written down in the music. Ormandy doesn't have a reputation for not knowing what he wanted.

Responding to your quote above, I'm reminded of some typically Blokian advice from a few years ago, issued to young'uns who then scoffed.

He suggested that one doesn't really know a piece until one can sing it, with accurate rhythms, effects, and pitches. Not necessarily good singing, but accurate enough to prove (even if just to the performer) that every rhythm and pitch has been embedded in the DNA.

And there's a similar story, also from Philly, which reports that Torchinski was required to play his audition of orchestral excerpts after the maestro had removed the music from the stand. That was also a test of how well the music had been internalized.

Some music is so hard to listen to or understand that it defies that level of internalization, at least by me. But Carmina Burana isn't one of those works. I have the old DG recording (on vinyl) that includes all the words (original and in several current languages) and went through a period of listening to the music repeatedly, singing (in blessed privacy) the words along with the recording. Once you can sing it without the benefit of the music, I think when that Gb appears, you won't have any trouble remembering the pitch. The good news is that such recordings are available.

I had to do the same thing with the Fanfare from La Peri, which starts on an Ab on the first note of the work. After listening to it a few hundred times, I could hear the whole chord in my head clearly, on pitch. And I don't have anything resembling perfect pitch.

Rick "whose auditory memory works best from auditory sources, not ink spots on the page" Denney

[windshieldbug]

Then there's always the "real" words to o fortuna...

http://carmina.ytmnd.com/

[Geotuba]

whose auditory memory works best from auditory sources, not ink spots on the page

Thanks Rick

I think we are completely on the same page here. My concern was that these 2 different recordings demonstrate how different the performances are and how differently the soloists interpret what ever is written on the page. IF I am going to plan on using my ears by listening to the soloist in order to hear that note I might have a problem - especially as I anticipate I won't even have the benefit of a soloist at the early rehearsals. It was partly my intellectual curiosity that prompted me to ask what the written notes were (and so what I might expect to hear in performance) as I do not have access to the score and partly a desire to prepare myself to be put off by a different soloist's interpretation on the day.

[pierso20]

Then there's always the "real" words to o fortuna...

http://carmina.ytmnd.com/

THIS HAS MADE MY LIFE!

[SPerry]

God, that link is wonderful! It had me rolling. I'm playing it in 2 weeks, so I decided to send this link to the conductor and I told him I was working on the lyrics.

Regarding that naked Gb, it's a great note to come in on. It's all you. I have performed this piece at least 8 different times (recycled about every 3 years at the Berkshire Choral Festival) and just last year, the conductor stopped after I played it, thought about it for about 5 seconds, and then asked me to come in pp, and then crescendo to a ff, ripping it off. A great effect, but a heck of lot harder than coming in ff and then decrecendo. For the concert, I played it safe and came in p with the crescendo. Went well. I'll never see that conductor again, anyway.

This is a great piece; Orff's best work. The soloists (if they're good) are worth taking in. I've been lucky to hear some Goddesses sing the soprano part. The tenor has a big solo that is about as eerie a solo that you want to hear. I never get tired of this work.

just my $0.02 --

[jeopardymaster]

Oh, that is priceless.

I always thought "O Fortuna" would make a terrific cat food commercial. Way better than Etta James even.

[Steve Marcus]

Since I have a performance of this coming up, I'm re-reading this thread.

[Steve Marcus]

Opening- Loud sustained notes in the cash register.

Then you sit around a fair bit.

End of the "Abbots Song" a VERY loud whole note Gb in the staff that is a solo with little or no tonality prep.

Later on in the Drinking song, you have a syncopated line, kinda of slow that starts on a D below the staff (not the pedal) and moves up thus: D-A-D-A-D to the D above the staff then an immediate tempo change where you have to start on an E in the staff then up an octave, then drop 2, all on E's. This happens twice.

The finale has some nice chorale writing that is a little rangy. [B-natural at top of staff to start two phrases]

Play it on a big horn, have fun.

I had performed this piece previously on my Besson 983 to "play it safe." It worked, but it wasn't a challenge or fun like yesterday when I took Chuck's advice and performed it on the CC. Much more satisfying and musically appropriate.

[PaulTkachenko]

I remember playing this on Eb and thinking it would have sounded much better on a contrabass tuba ...