Re: Re: American brass playing and ethnocentrism


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Posted by Rick Denney on July 14, 2000 at 10:22:35:

In Reply to: Re: American brass playing and ethnocentrism posted by Dan N on July 13, 2000 at 22:15:53:

Yup, Vienna is one of the great orchestras. But their greatest conductor (Cellibidache, although I've no idea how to spell it) didn't believe in recordings, so their greatest work has not been preserved. Berlin is probably not a better orchestra, but Karajan was so much more outgoing that they made a name for themselves beyond Vienna.

I have many recordings of Berlin and the Concertgebouw. And, based on my love of English music in general and Vaughan Williams's music in particular, the British orchestras are well-represented in my collection. In fact, I remember posting some praise on this forum for a performance of the Vaughan Williams 4th Symphony, played by one of the London orchestras and conducted by Roger Norrington.

I also have a number of recordings, not so easy to get at one time, of Russian orchestras playing Russian composers not often performed in the U.S. (Glazunov, for example). The only definitive recording in my view of the Poulenc Gloria was performed by a French orchestra. And the list goes on.

But this is a tuba forum, so only those recordings that feature the tuba specially, perhaps along with the brass, are likely to be mentioned. Also, much as I like, say, the Florida Phil recording of the Mahler 1, I probably would not have mentioned it had not the tuba player for that ensemble been a part of the group. So, as long as participation is dominated by American tubists, the orchestras mentioned are likely to be American orchestras. Participants from other countries should not take offense--none is intended--and I'm sure that if we all lived in Europe and heard European orchestras regularly the discussions would be different.

Rick "I like performances emanating from the composer's native soil" Denney


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