Bill Bell and the Vaughan Williams

[Rick Denney]

Bill Bell performed the Vaughan Williams in the American premiere with the Little Orchestra Society in New York in 1955. He was standing in for Harvey Phillips who could not perform because of a military restriction at the time. Through diligent efforts, that recording is now available:

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I received my copy over the weekend and listened to it today.

Proper criticism should open doors and not close them, and I find this particular performance quite interesting in the progression of recorded RVW Tuba Concertos from Catelilnet to Nickel even though it is flawed in many ways. I possess recordings of this work made the day after the world premiere in 1954 by Catelinet, in 1955 by Bell, in the late 60's by Fletcher, in the 70's by Jacobs, in the 80's by Lind, and in the late 90's by Hans Nickel.

Listening to these recordings suggests to me that a new work, even one thought to be obvious like the Vaughan Williams, is not at all obvious. Catelinet played it in a clipped, British military style that may have been a weakness of technique as much as anything. Bell's interpretation was very much more melodic, but still had some of the marcato character of the work with its published markings. Jacobs adopted a similar approach, but with still a bit more lyricism. Across the pond, Fletcher had connected everything and brought extreme mastery, supported by playing his primary instrument. Lind took it one step further and connected it all into a flowing song. Nickel is back to the published markings. And there are many orther recordings, some of which I've heard and forgotten, and others of which I haven't heard. But I see two schools: Beautifully lyrical and ponderously humorous, though of course the two schools cross over quite a bit.

Bell's performance (which was a live performance made with relatively little preparation) fit right into the humorous school. Technically, it is superior to the Catelinet recording (which was made in a studio), except in recording quality. Bell's tone on the H.N. White F tuba was actually quite nice, though there were a few notes that stuck out. I was reminded of David Bragunier playing the Strauss Horn Concerto on a 1903 Eb tuba, which he did beautifully, but during which he could not quite hide that managing the instrument was a challenge.

Bell took a few shortcuts in the cadenzas to remove the highest bits, which is a strategy Catelinet should have taken. And there were two or three fracks that perfectionists will note. After hearing bits of Bill Bell and his Tuba, it was actually refreshing to discover that he was, in fact, flesh and blood.

Yet I think he captured the humor of the work in ways that Fletcher and Lind did not do (but that Nickel did). The CD included photocopies of the newspaper critical reviews of the performance, and they all noted the humorous aspects of the performance. So, in many ways, I think he understood Vaughan Williams better than later performers.

And understanding of Ralph Vaughan Williams the composer was lacking by everyone else. The program notes contained several significant factual errors about the composer, and in my opinion also missed the point of much of his work. American performance practice at the time was quite consumed by the German tradition, and Dr. Vaughan Williams must have been somewhat of a departure from that tradition without being avant garde enough to be hip anyway. Any study of Vaughan Williams as a man will reveal a deep sense of humor based on self-deprecation but that hid enormous confidence and commitment to his artistic goals. That conflict is revealed in the disparity between humorous works like the Tuba Concerto and monstrously brooding works like the Symphony in F Minor (#4). If one takes the Tuba Concerto as seriously as the 4th Symphony compels the listener to do, it will be a disappointment. But that mistake is with the listener. Vaughan Williams's sense of humor was quite consistent with that of the tuba. If there is a complaint about the Tuba Concerto, it is that it is not heroic like brass music should be. Mike Sanders commented at the Army Conference that the first movement could be played on bassoon with similar effect.

The program notes (or perhaps it was one of the reviews) also suggested that the "bass tuba" was an obsolete instrument, which I find rather a remarkable suggestion. At the time of this recording, the Danish royal orchestra used an instrument very much like the original Moritz and Wieprecht basstuba from 120 years before, which wouldn't win a boxing match with a good-sized euphonium these days. And in Vienna, the small, six-valved F was standard. As small as that instrument seems now, it's a monster compared to the C euphonium with six valves used in French orchestras at the time. The standard German orchestral tuba was a comparatively large Alexander F tuba that would be dwarfed by the big F's of today. And in England, the standard instrument was not the compensating Besson F that Catelinet (and, later, Jacobs) used, which was rather large by the standard of the day, but a smaller Barlow F tuba with five valves and a euphonium-sized bell. The H.N. White instrument used by Bell at the time would have nestled quite comfortably in the middle of that pack, but I can't imagine anyone familiar with tuba performance around the world thinking that the small F bass tuba was obsolete. The American practice of using very large contrabass tubas (which Bell did not follow) was the departure from usual practice.

The B&S Symphonie F tuba of the 70's must have been a radical design when it came out. And the Yamaha 621 is a natural member of the F tuba race.

The Bell recording of the Vaughan Williams is an important piece of history, and part of an important record of performance practice useful to all tuba players. I can recommend it for that reason alone. But I also enjoyed listening to it despite its flaws.

Rick "grateful for the availability of this recording" Denney

[Gorilla Tuba]

Rick,

I am quite compelled to purchase this recording largely due to your excellent critique. We have very differing opinions on the value/ quality of the various RVW recordings. In fact, you and I have different views on much of the world, but I always appreciate your thoughtful posts. On occasion you have introduced a new lens with which to view a topic that I had previously formed an ironclad position. In this case, looking for the humorous quality in the interpretation is a trait I had never considered. The most influential recordings for me of the RVW are the Lind, Fletcher, and Eugene Dowling. Hopefully, my next performance of the RVW will be a little different because of hearing the Bell recording, or just for considering its humor value.

For what its worth, I am newly committed to performing the piece as it is printed... not with the traditional extra cadenza stuff and articulation edits. It may not be in line with common practice, but the ink really does work pretty well.

[Mark]

Ever since I bought Nickel's CD based on Rick's recommendation, I absolutely agree with Rick that this is the best RVW I have heard. So the question is what is the second best? I vote for Eugene Dowling's.