Thought I'd ask this here before spending any time/effort of my own to figure it out. Some people just seem to know this kind of stuff.
Paul Krzywicki used to own a Willson 3050RZ, just like mine, and used it in the Philadelphia orchestra for a number of years. I'm trying to find a few recordings of him playing it in concerts. I'm curious to see what this tuba model sounds like in the hand of a *real* tuba player.
Paul owned at least 3 Willson 3050s of different configurations at one time or another. He kindly lent me one for a weekend when I was visiting my family in Philadelphia while he was playing in the PO. It had 4 pistons + a rotor for the left hand. I believe that it was the oldest of the three that he possessed at that time.
I ran into Paul in Colorado about 10 years back and close to his retirement. I want to say around 2006. I was conducting and we were in rehearsal with the Great Western Rocky Mountain Brass Band and Paul cornered me aferward. We chatted a bit about Philly, Aspen and biking in the mountains. Then we digressed to horns and I learned that he cashed in his Yorkbrunner for a Willson piston 5/4 CC and also picked up a Willson rotary F. Not long after that he retired. I got the feeling he knew he needed efficient equipment with Philly and he really felt he got "bang for the buck" with the Willsons. But as the story goes, when you are looking for a new horn to replace what you have, there is a limited market for what is available. Was it an ideal choice or less than the ideal? Paul will need to tell you that. BUT... at any one moment, there are only so many available options and you choose one and make it work. I remember when he first took over after my teacher Abe Torchinsky, he was sporting a MW, then a Cerveny then the Hirsbrunner and who knows what else. I remember he had a Besson CC in the garage on Cromwell. I even remember at one point he had a Vienna tuba (maybe an Alex) and had the valves reconfigured. Paul is a marvelous player and like many looked for a lot of options in instruments. Most companies back then were not producing signature models as does MW or Miraphone. About the only horn that had a signature to it was the MW "Wm. Bell" Model. Other than that you bought horns "off the rack." We may be spoiled these days. But regardless, thank you Gerhard, Markus & PT for incredible R&D in the tuba world.
Wessex 5/4 CC "Wyvern"
Wessex 4/4 F "Berg"
Wessex Cimbasso F
Mack Euphonium
Mack Bass Trombone
Conn 5V Double Bell Euphonium (casually for sale to an interested party)
Thanks Paul (and Steve) for the information (and others, for the PMs).
Yes, I realize that this was near the end of Paul's career, and as you point out, I'm sure he had a ton of instruments along the way. It's really interesting to hear your experiences about what is available now, compared to what used to be available "back then"... because all things considered, it really wasn't all that long ago.
I read somewhere around here once that the Willson 3050 was built FOR him... but I don't know if that meant that it existed already and was made to his order, or, if he worked with Willson on his idea of making a rotary-valved version of the 3050.
But really, I'm just curious to hear what this model of tuba sounds like with a fine player, with a fine orchestra.
I'm guessing that you'll probably want to focus in on the recordings that Philly made with Sawallisch. I have no idea if Paul was using the 3050 at this time, but there's a very good "Sinfonia Domestica" (R. Strauss) with Sawallish. There's also a decent Hindemith disc that has the usual suspects on it. I might just try poking around Youtube.
By the time Eschenbach began recording with Philly, I think Paul would have been out of the picture. Not sure.
