John Adams' Grand Pianola Music

[Tony Halloin]

I have been asked to be a ringer to play (and I quote) an "exceptionally high tuba solo" in this piece, Grand Pianola Music, by John Adams, for a local university band. I've never heard the piece and have no idea what the solo will be like. Has anyone played this and would they shed some light on the "exceptional highness" of it?

[THE TUBA]

I haven't played it, but I have a recording and have seen it performed live (the tubist used an F for the solo). I looked on YouTube for a reference but couldn't find the tuba solo section (usually close to 4" into 1B). The solo is fairly exposed and subdued; Adams wrote that this section "is a slow serene pasture with grazing tuba." Using my best guesstimation, I would say that the solo starts around an E above the staff and pops back into that range a couple of times.

Not firsthand advice, but hopefully this helps.

[David Zerkel]

Hi Tony,

Exposed, soft high E's to start. Some rangey leaps, all slow. Ends on a high note... when I sing back the solo (What I remember from 26 years ago. Oy!), it sounds like it should be a high A#. Zoiks, that is high. Makes me wish I would have had an F tuba back then!!

Take both horns. The part is active and covers the range of the instrument, and then some.

Have fun!
DZ

[glangfur]

I played the bass trombone part in college, sitting next to a great tuba player. You will definitely want two tubas. In addition to that high solo, there are some LOUD pedal C#s. My friend was playing on a 4-valve Alex CC with a main tuning slide kicker. I don't remember if he was playing false tones or pulling slides, but he sounded huge, both next to me and on the recording.

RIP Jodee. We miss you.

[tclements]

I played it with John Adams conducting. There are several high A#'s in the solo. John told me for the first performance (and ONE of the recordings), they rewrote the tuba solo for horn. Use 2 horns as there ARE some low loud notes as well. I even think an euph would be appropriate for the solo. The solo is soft, lyrical and very exposed. I couldn't remember how low the parts goes, but I sure as heck remember the A#'s! ENJOY!

[The Jackson]

I think that there may be some revision discrepency as I am looking at the score for this piece and see no high A#s (just above the third ledger line above the bass clef staff). This score says that the first printing was in June of 1994 (piece was premiered February of 1982). I also don't see those A#s anywhere else in the piece (the highest note is E above the staff) and the recording I have of the piece (London Sinfonietta, 1994) has the tuba part performed as written in the score I have. Adams did write in the beginning of the score that the piece "endured endless rewrites", so maybe the range of the tuba solo was rewritten at some point before 1994?

I see the highest notes in the solo section (bar 719 of the first movement) are Es above the staff. It slurs down a half-step to the D# below it and, in a recurring device of Adams, goes down and up by 7ths and 9ths to the D# below the staff (lowest note in the solo section) and the E above it, D# in the staff, and so on. It starts off at a piano dynamic with crescendi and decrescendi only going as loud as mezzo-forte. It's a very delicate and sweet section of the piece with the pianos playing the dotted-eight/sixteenth rhythm, three women singing, and the two flutes providing a nice background. This section is "kinda-sorta-not really" in B major and there are suspensions all over the place (more typical Adams). That recurring high E in the tuba part is that kind of suspended note and does its little resolution when slurred down the the D# (in various octaves). Super cool stuff and should be a lot of fun.