conductors


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Posted by dave on October 28, 2003 at 01:57:54:

We had a concert Sunday that included Copland's Lincoln Portrait. The euphonium part has a discordant section shortly after the speaking begins, where it plays accented low F's which have a sixteenth rest from the start of each measure. The tuba part moves around but is basically in discord with the euph part, e.g. sometimes the tuba plays Eb. The tuba notes starts at the beginning of the measure, so the discord is very pronounced, entirely as Copland must have intended it, at least that is my interpretation. Since this is a piece about Lincoln, I have always thought of the discord as representing the despair of Lincoln's death.

The tuba player complained to the conductor about the discord, and the conductor asked me to drop out and not play the euph part. My protests went ignored. What would you have done? I have played this piece before (for different conductors), and the euphonium section was always asked to bring out the low F's.


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