Medium difficulty CC tuba solo with full orchestral accomp?

[MartyNeilan]

I have a student who is interested in playing a school's concerto competition. He only has a larger CC tuba, and his technique / high range are not up to something like the VW or maybe even the Gregson. There are certainly some good choices well within his ability that have band accompaniment, but what about orchestra?

Thanks,
Marty

[Tom]

Here is a group of 3 works that I think might be accessible to your student based on the information provided:

Frankenpohl: Concertino for Tuba and Strings (arguably the easiest of the works listed here)
Jacob: Tuba Suite (string orch. accompaniment)
Shaughnessey: Concerto for Tuba and String Orchestra ("interesting" in that 70's kind of way, rarely performed)

Of that bunch, I would go for the Gordon Jacob piece. If I recall correctly it is composed of 8 or 10 short movements written in a variety of styles. Fun to play, easy to listen to, but has enough substance (in my opinion) to fit the bill. One of my personal favorite solo tuba works.

[J.c. Sherman]

Second the Frakenpohl - it's easy on the audience as well, and it's really a lovely 2nd movement.

J.c.S.

[Uncle Buck]

The Frakenpohl was my high school staple, and it's a great piece.

Another one to consider would be the Capuzzi Concerto for Double Bass. Not the tuba arrangement out there of the 2nd and 3rd movements, but playing from the original Double Bass part. I particularly like the 1st movement of that one on CC tuba.

[Wyvern]

Another one to consider would be the Capuzzi Concerto for Double Bass.

Does one transpose down an octave to double bass pitch?

[oedipoes]

You could go for " a bass in the ballroom" but I don't know if there's and orchestra version of it. (written for band originally?)
Fun for the soloist, not that easy to play well however, and the audience will love it.

Wim

[eupher61]

ditto on the Jacob and the Frackenpohl.

But, given these choices, the Frackenpohl would be my preference.

If I wasn't unsure about playing borrowed literature for such a competition (because of adjudicators' bias, not mine) I'd suggest the Strauss First Concerto, Eb. To me, it's an amazing piece of tuba literature, only so-so for horn. Should've been written for Eb tuba, works well on any key. Eb's above the staff.

On CC, use BBb fingerings and add 3 flats to the horn part. Simple. There is a tuba transcription out there somewhere, commercially available, isn't there? I did one myself years ago, long lost I'm afraid..

[T. J. Ricer]

How about the Lebedev Concerto in one movement? It all lays pretty nice on CC. I think it stays at and below middle C for the most part, with an optional E above that in the cadenza. . . if memory serves.

--T. J.

[eupher61]

is there an actual orchestra accomp for the Lebedev?

[Tom]

… Gordon Jacob piece… is composed of 8 or 10 short movements written in a variety of styles.

On a CC the last movement (Galop, I think) would be somewhat tough. It goes up to a high G above the staff and have some very fast runs. The other movements are al very easy and seem to have no relation to the final movement. It is like he had spare material laying around and decided to cobble together a tuba piece. I would do this on a bass and not a contrabass tuba. I have performed this piece enough to have finally placed it on my Do Not Perform list. Seriously, the last movement has zero to do with the rest of the work in any way whatsoever. And the Ground movement is frightfully boring for an audience, even with a very fine player. The Hornpipe is nice, and the rest - so-so.

I like your other suggestions, however.

I do not disagree with your observations about the last movement. It is difficult on CC and yes, there is a real disconnect between the last movement and the rest of the work.

You are also correct that the Ground movement is boring regardless of who is playing.

Like you, I have done this on bass tuba (and would in the future). I still really like the work overall, but to each him own, I guess.

The real reason that I suggested it is that it is one of the seemingly few tuba works (originally for tuba, that is) with an available orchestral accompaniment that is "easier" than works along the lines of the JW, VW, Gregson, Journey, etc.

I do not care much for the Frankenpohl, but think it just might be the ticket in this situation.

[MartyNeilan]

How about the Lebedev Concerto in one movement? It all lays pretty nice on CC. I think it stays at and below middle C for the most part, with an optional E above that in the cadenza. . . if memory serves.
--T. J.

Great piece. Thanks for the reminder on this one, T.J. The student actually emailed me the same thing yesterday; he had been listening to Dave Zerkel's excellent "Tuba Helper" CD and positively fell in love with that piece.

is there an actual orchestra accomp for the Lebedev?

Not having ever performed the Lebedev myself, I thought about the same question yesterday and did some research. Here was my response:

Lebedev:
The "Concerto in One Movement" you heard was probably arranged by Allen Ostrander, former bass trombonist of the New York Philharmonic. Back then, most bass trombonists played a single valve trombone. As Dirty Harry once said, "A man's got to know his limitations." A single valve bass trombone does have certain technical limitations, so the part was slightly altered. Low Cb (aka B natural) was changed to another note, fast triplets were changed to eighth notes, some articulation changes, etc. Mr. Ostrander even chopped out some of the introduction - who knows why?
There is another version. This version is called, "Concerto No. 1" and is virtually identical, except it is considered the "urtext edition" that restores the original material. A full orchestral edition (including harp!) is available from the publisher, Hofmeister. You can find it here at - http://www.hickeys.com/cgi/display.cgi? ... usopo5.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
Scroll down until you see it. Be sure to purchase the Hofmeister edition, retail price $19.35. This is a little higher than the other version, but worth it for the availability of the orchestral parts.

This is most likely the direction we will go. Thanks to all the excellent responses on this thread, some great ideas posted here!
Although many modern tuba solos are composed with band, wind ensemble, or brass band accompaniment in mind, it would be great to see more of these pieces rescored for orchestra as well.

[J.c. Sherman]

A single valve bass trombone does have certain technical limitations...

Tell that to George Roberts!

J.c.S.

[Tuba Guy]

For a non-profit score study, I arranged the piano part a couple of years ago for string orchestra. If you'd like to look at it, I can send you the score and parts as an idea of what it would look like if someone were to have arranged that particular edition