In the Hall of the Mountain King - Bass or Contrabass

[Billy M.]

I've been doing some research and it appears this can be done with either, but traditionally, which horn is best suited for this piece of music in an orchestra?

[The Brute Squad]

I think the standard non-answer would be that it depends on what works for you and your group.

Glancing at the part on IMSLP, however, I personally would lean heavily toward contrabass.

[DouglasJB]

This one lies well for either horn if I remember. I played it on CC because that's the one I used on every other piece. I wouldn't drag a second horn to rehearsal/stage if I was not using the "other" horn. If you use Contrabass on the rest of the pieces, use contrabass and vice versa for Bass. Just my thinking on it, but I would lean towards contrabass if I could.

[Billy M.]

Funny part is everything I'm playing is bass tuba stuff (Poulenc double piano concerto, Berlioz Fantastique)

[bort]

Play that fine Rudy Meinl for everything. That tuba stays home for nobody!

But really, the Eb should be okay for Hall of the Mountain King, if you are alongside a strong bass trombone player and the brightness of the Eb blends well with it.

[Billy M.]

I have some strong confidence in the bass bone player.

[Art Hovey]

Bill Bell told me that he used his Eb sousaphone for most of his solo LP, but he used a BBb tuba for Mountain King. You can really hear the difference.

[Worth]

However best you can cleanly articulate and present those two important F#s below the staff toward the end of the piece

[Billy M.]

Play that fine Rudy Meinl for everything. That tuba stays home for nobody!

I totally imagined this as the line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." from Dirty Dancing.