Posted by Rick Denney on June 23, 2003 at 09:31:47:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Is it me? posted by Bloke McSmoke on June 21, 2003 at 17:48:30:
Or, perhaps, an orchestra with some sensitivity, or a conductor who will enforce that sensitivity.
I wonder how often an orchestra prepares for the RVW Tuba Concert with the same commitment that they would prepare the Emperor Concerto for Emmanuel Ax, for example. Usually, it's their guy doing the solo instead of the Highly Respected World-Renowned Soloist, and the perception is that the work is easy and not serious. I heard Mike Sanders play the Vaughan Williams once in San Antonio. Even in San Antonio, it was a Pops Concert that was otherwise mostly excerpts and other "light" works. The strings engaged in considerable fakissimo, for example, when they played the Mercury movement from The Planets during that concert, as judged by a professional violinist who had attended the concert with me.
Judging from the Fletcher recording (at least), the orchestra can indeed get under the soloist. During the Romanza, Fletcher played with a full dynamic range, but I could hear him clearly on every note. I don't think he was miked close up, though, because of the way he sounds.
But, let's face it, it takes loud playing for an F tuba to soar above any full-sized orchestra. Fletcher established his ability to play softly during the cadenzas.
Rick "who wishes other major 20th-century composers, before the dominance of movie scores in the backlog of the best composers, wrote works for solo tuba" Denney