Gene Pokorny's Orchestral Excerpts for Tuba Album

[TinyTubist97]

I know that the advice part is very valuable, but is the actual playing part a realistic sound to shoot for in ensembles other than the CSO?

[Todd S. Malicoate]

That's part of the fun. You never really know.

As many who have sat on audition panels will no doubt confirm, though, it rarely comes down to which sound the committee "likes better" but rather the player with the best accuracy performing the excerpts.

[DudelookingfortheCC]

I actually just got this cd in the mail two days ago. It's ridiculous, and very awesome.

Just a tip regarding the sound, I think you'll notice that there is a bright maybe edgy sound to his playing. That's not him, it's just the way the hall is for lack of a beter word, "throwing" the sound around and it really has just this scratchy echo like quality to it. After all, it was recorded in the 90's. Forget all the reverb sounding things and focus on his actual sound. It's deep, gutsy and super clean.

It's always good to emulate your favorite professional player along with many other greats. This is paramount to having standards for your own sound. Practice your long tones, do what you gotta do and try your best.

His comments are very helpful, and I was practicing the Prokofiev 5 along with him to get an understanding of what my part is meant for and what it's supposed to sound like.

A good point my teacher Jay Bertolet said is that you should take everything on that cd with a grain of salt. We're both curious to know how he would engage those excerpts now.

Josue"too young to know a lot but I try" Martinez

[Rick Denney]

One thing I notice about those excerpts, as I look at the music while listening to Gene play them: Without exception, every single marking in the music is there.

I wonder if all hopefuls at auditions are are consistently precise, whatever the sound. It doesn't matter what sound one produces, or what style one expresses, if the markings in the music are not accurately performed. We assume that this is a given, but I wonder if that's really the case, especially at a cattle-call audition.

Questions of interpretation, style, and sound work within that context, not above it.

Rick "suspecting that disciplined respect for the markings ranks pretty highly with audition committees" Denney

[jmg71196]

One thing I notice about those excerpts, as I look at the music while listening to Gene play them: Without exception, every single marking in the music is there.

I wonder if all hopefuls at auditions are are consistently precise, whatever the sound. It doesn't matter what sound one produces, or what style one expresses, if the markings in the music are not accurately performed. We assume that this is a given, but I wonder if that's really the case, especially at a cattle-call audition.

Questions of interpretation, style, and sound work within that context, not above it.

Rick "suspecting that disciplined respect for the markings ranks pretty highly with audition committees" Denney

Rick is right. I played in a masterclass last June with Gene, I played the solo (or bass soli, whichever you think of it) from meistersinger. He told me I wasn't following the marking's on the music as well as I could (I.E. molto marcato, molto legato), and he told the same thing to the next person, and the next, and so on. That is what I got out of the album - always follow the style, dynamic, and articulation markings; your musical ideas will make more sense.

As far as sound, I always thought there was too much reverb for a studio recording on that CD. While exciting, I don't think the spreading and blatty quality in the Romeo and Juliet excerpt would sound great in the back of an orchestra, but again, that may be acoustical. I have always heard to aim for precision, consistency, and focus when playing excerpts alone - having a huge BAT sound comes for once you've won the job.

[UDELBR]

Much of how an instrument sounds on a recording is due to the recording engineer: mic choice, mic placement, etc. Having heard Gene live, I think it's fair to say the tonmeister made some unfortunate choices.

[DudelookingfortheCC]

Well said. This was all very insightful for me!

[scottmendoker]

Actually, this is an interesting story..... I was lucky enough to be a tonemeister for this recording. GENE'S idea was to record the York, especially, as if you were sitting in the hall. And that sound was captured. It was an incredible experience! Then, the on-site recording engineer dropped the ball on the editing so I offered to help and edited the CD with Skip Tullen of Tullen Sound in Morristown, NJ. What we delivered to Gene was exactly what was asked for.
When Summit Records listened to the master, they were upset because the premise of the Orchestra Pro Series was to record the sound as if you were a student sitting along side the player.The only thing they could do was to crank up the volume. A wonderful sound became bright and edgy.
For those of you lucky enough to hear Gene live, you'll understand how misrepresented he is on the Summit recording. Fortunately, they couldn't ruin his musicianship and his attention to detail. For those things alone, this recording needs to be owned by every tuba player. And let's hope that he makes another one!
Scott Mendoker