Posted by Klaus on August 07, 2001 at 10:44:00:
In Reply to: Re: Hungarian March: CC or F posted by Jay Bertolet on August 07, 2001 at 08:35:04:
Just read the score, which makes me ask a couple of question on the instrumentation of this work in the modern concert hall:
When things begin to boil in the low brass, Berlioz adds a valve trombone to be played in unisono with the 1st trombone for the rest of the piece. My interpretation is, that this is a trick by Berlioz to overcome shortcomings in slides and slide techniques in his own era. Is a valve trombone or even an extra slide trombone used today?
The tuba part is written in unisono with the ophicleide, so with the qualities of modern tubas, one could more or less safely say that the part would be covered just by a tuba. But there is a mighty BUT:
11 bars from the end the ophi and the tuba parts split up in octaves during two and a half bars. The figure played by these low brasses is not covered by other instruments, neither woods, brasses, timps, or strings. The figure has some very prominent octave leaps, which are effective in low brasses. So the question will be: How are these two and a hald bars played and/or instrumentated in the modern orchestra?
Klaus