Posted by Steve Dedman on September 06, 2001 at 16:07:50:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Seating Question posted by Carl on September 06, 2001 at 15:17:46:
Actually, I brought up the French Tuba in an (obviously) ineffective attempt at hyperbole.
Perhaps I was short-sighted in the wording of my original 'alternete instrumentation' statement. I assumed that the musical integrity would be a forgone conclusion, and that no player accomplished enough to attempt the SF would also be asinine enough to play the part on something so widely removed as, say, a bass saxophone. LouderLowerHigherFaster must give way in this instance, but not to the extent that the limits of the ophicleide allow. At some point, we have to find a suitable substitute that most closely resembles Berlioz' assumed intent, while accounting for the fact that a modern orchestra only vaguely resembles the orchestras of Berlioz' day. And that can only come from judicious, reasoned experimentation. After all, someone had to try a euph and a bass tuba sometime before it could become normal practice in your neck of the woods. Somebody somewhere experimented with the instrumentation, and it seems to have worked at leaving the musical integrity intact.
SD