Posted by Keating Johnson on December 29, 2002 at 21:11:18:
I played CC tuba for many years, F tuba for over 25, and have used my BBb Holton since 1974. This fall I started playing a Fafner BBb tuba and have used it for large situations as well as brass quintet on selected repertoire. The posts as to what tuba are indeed difficult to really answer because so much depends on the sound of a particular instrument and of course the application. Just as a note, the Schott and Sons publication das Orchester, www.schott-music.com, lists 3 jobs that have auditions after the first of the year in Germany. Deutsche Sinfonie Orchester (big job in Berlin), Gewandhaus Orchester (Blomstedt is chief conductor) and Saarbrucken. The listings you can read, but they list bass tuba, then required BBb tuba and required solos are Vaughan Williams (second mvt.) and Lebedev (for low register in the the Gewandhaus Orch.) Of course a CC tuba would be terrific (Berlin Radio is Richard Nahazty and Deutsche Oper is also American, and both are using Nirschl CC tubas in spite of the BBb tuba requirement).