Le Corsair Overture

[Mark]

Like most of the works by Berlioz, you would be happier playing this on a bass tuba instead of a contrabass. The range is G below the staff to Ab above the staff. In fact, there are a lot of notes above the staff.

Although, the tempo is fairly fast, there really isn't anything too technically challenging for the tuba. Just those high notes.

[Haugan]

Get ahold of a part, and start practicing. This ophicleide/tuba part really exploits the upper reaches of register for orchestral tuba playing- you'll need a good solid Ab above the bass clef staff at one point. I might add that it can be one of the most fun and rewarding parts you may come across in the orchestra literature - when you really connect with it it can be a GAS. It is "classic Berlioz" and probably my personal favorite to play of the overtures Berlioz wrote. Don't let the high tessitura intimidate you. Practice it ad infinitum an octave lower to get the passages cemented in your head before you tackle it where it's written, and you will find it MUCH easier to approach. HAVE FUN!

[MikeMason]

short answer: yes...

[tubajoe]

It screams. Find an F tuba.

You'll be fine...

[brianf]

The Corsair on the Jacobs audition list???

One day I met Mr Jacobs at Ravinia and they were rehearsing it - he was playing it on an F tuba. At lunch he asked how it sounded - hey, he played it great but there was something that he wanted to know and kept pushing the subject. He asked about how it sounded with the trombones. I said it sounded like to trombones! Then he said "That's what we thought." Seems there was a discussion with the section and the conductor about the sound of the F tuba. For the performance that night, he played it on the York CC. They wanted more fundemental to the sound, seperating the tuba part from the trombnes.

[Kevin Hendrick]

... it can be one of the most fun and rewarding parts you may come across in the orchestra literature - when you really connect with it it can be a GAS. It is "classic Berlioz" and probably my personal favorite to play of the overtures Berlioz wrote.

Mine too -- great fun! Takes some work, but it's well worth it.

Seems there was a discussion with the section and the conductor about the sound of the F tuba. For the performance that night, [Mr. Jacobs] played it on the York CC. They wanted more fundemental to the sound, seperating the tuba part from the trombnes.

I played it a year and a half ago, on my Sear CC, and it worked well.

[Haugan]

The first time I played this overture was with the "Civic Orchestra of Chicago" in 1980. We had a GREAT brass section ('Civic" usually does) and I was playing a York BBb at the time. I sneaked in a cassette tape recorder and stashed it under my chair for one of the rehearsals. I've thus got proof that you can pull this off on a BAT and make it sound GOOD, at that. The tape is a fond memory of all the great brass players (many of them today occupying major orchestra positions today, such as hornist Wm. Vermeulen) in the orchestra that year, as well as an example of really unrestraind "youth and exuberance" - we were all trying to sound like our teachers in the CSO, and overdoing everything they would have done. It is raucous, LOUD, and unrestrained. Perfect Berlioz. Every once in awhile there are pauses in the tape and you can hear Civic conductor Gordon Peters yelling at/pleading with us to cut things back and give the strings a chance, while the tape always picks sombody in the brass section (probably inaudible to Peters) telling him to "tell the strings to dig in and play louder", "get off our backs - this is Berlioz", or a "less positive" suggestion. I remember the performance - We all did what Peters wanted in rehearsal (eventually), and "shook the rafters" of Orchestra Hall in the performance - it was a memorable experience, and I've played "Corsair" quite a few times since with good orchestras, but it was NEVER that exciting. Maybe it was a "first time" performance kind of experience, but the piece has never given me the same "chills up and down my spine" feeling although it has always been FUN since. I never played it on a BAT again, opting out for the comparative ease and projection the F basstuba gives you when playing music of this nature. I wouldn't rule out doing it on a "big" tuba if you can't get ahold of an "F". "DO EXACTLY WHAT THE CONDUCTOR WANTS IN REHEARSALS, THERE'S PLENTY OF TIME TO DO IT RIGHT IN THE CONCERT" - ABE TORCHINSKY, Aspen 1973

[JB]

"DO EXACTLY WHAT THE CONDUCTOR WANTS IN REHEARSALS, THERE'S PLENTY OF TIME TO DO IT RIGHT IN THE CONCERT" - ABE TORCHINSKY, Aspen 1973

Interesting quote. I recall a very similar discussion with Ralph Sauer (regarding Bruckner, as I recall) where he advised to play it "their way" (i.e., following the conductor's requests) during rehearsal, and then "the right way" when it came to the performance.

[Kevin Hendrick]

...We all tend to play absolutely as the music director wishes that we play including the concert. It's very nice to be asked back to the next concert and to the next season's concerts.

Indeed it is!

[Haugan]

Maybe I should be more careful of whom I quote, or in what context it may be taken. I don't think Mr. Torchinsky was necessarily referring to ALL conductors. When one plays with a major symphony, there is ample opportunity to encounter the occasional "guest" conductor (or sometimes the Music Director, if you're unfortunate) that relies HEAVILY on the rehearsal time spent by preceeding conductors. Many orchestras have a nearly "set way" they play their particular "signature" works, and barely need someone up front to "beat time" to deliver a relatively convincing performance. In situations like this, it becomes natural if not occasionally necessary for the musicians to "take over" somewhat, in order to deliver a cohesive "vision" of what's being played. Most of the time (if you're fortunate) the conductor will have a clear vision of his own, can communicate it, and it doesn't conflict too much with how you may personally interpert it. I don't mind COMPLETELY submitting to a conductors vision, if he has one. Frequently the musicians of an orchestra know in greater detail what the "mix" out in the hall will be (due to having recorded there for a number of years) and they may have to play differently than what is heard on the podium as "correct" to duplicate the conductor's actual wishes to the audience. One of the reasons the Chicago Symphony brass section was known to have played so loud was (at one time, at least - I don't know about "Symphony Center") that from the podium, the brass didn't really sound that loud. I had an opportunity to conduct our "Civic" brass section for a few minutes when one of our "coaches" was delayed by a snowstorm. It was REMARKABLE that the volume from the podium was so diminished from what we were producing at the rear of the stage. We all took turns conducting, and were all equally impressed at the difference from the podium. What I am getting at is that sometimes the orchestra has to "disobey" the conductor in order to "obey" him. It must be equally frustrating as a conductor to approach a "strange" hall as it is for the orchestra, knowing that they won't be meeting a conductor's demands unless they play [other than] what he wants to hear from the podium. Maybe this sheds some light on Mr. Torchinsky's comment. I don't think he meant it as a template for ALL conductors. I could be wrong.............