Re: F Tuba Sound


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Rick Denney on February 02, 2004 at 18:14:41:

In Reply to: F Tuba Sound posted by Mark Wiseman on February 02, 2004 at 17:23:04:

For me it was Hans Nickel in his CD, Cantuballada, on the Valve-Hearts label. That CD has both the Vaughan Williams and the Gregson concertos, in addition to Gregson's Alarum and a couple of works thrown in to please the conductor.

Nickel's sound has a fat edginess to it, but without the depth of a big contrabass.

Michael Lind's sound is also a characteristic F tuba sound, but it is smoother and prettier than Nickel's sound. He played an Alexander on the recording I have. As much as I'm awed by Lind's musicianship on his recordings, though, I have to say that Nickel's sound is more exciting and conveys more personality to me. It was the sound in my head when I was auditioning F tubas last week. Nickel uses a Hirsbrunner.

Velvet Brown is a marvelous performer and I'm happy to listen to her play anything. But I think her sound is more CC-like than F-like. At the conference, she played a Willson F, but I only knew that from looking. By ear alone, I might have thought she was playing a contrabass tuba. The Willson is a great F tuba, but as its highest value as an alternative to a small CC, it seems to me.

Roger Bobo plays a Yamaha 621 (though heavily customized) when he has recorded an F. Much of what I have on his CD that pictures him holding his Yamaha was recorded back when, as I understand it, he was using a Miraphone 184 CC. I don't remember the title of that CD--it's the one with the Kraft Encounters and the Hindemith on it. It defines for me the Power Sound.

Another take on characteristic F tuba sound is Floyd Cooley, The Romantic Tuba. It's an old recording on the Crystal label--I have in vinyl that I bought what seems like 20 years ago. What a fabulous recording! He played a Gronitz F on that CD.

Finally, you should listen to Gene Pokorny on Big Boy (I think that's the right CD). The unaccompanied Bach is the highlight of that CD, played on an F. It's clearly a different sound than he gets on a big tuba. The musicianship of that unaccompanied Bach is incredible. I once listened to those tracks on repeat for two hours. I seem to recall that he plays a B&S.

In reviewing this list, it appears to me that it ain't the instrument as much as the performer's tone concept. It's not a matter of "best"--each is wonderful in its own way. The guys who, to me, make characteristic F tuba sounds used four different instruments in doing so (Alexander, B&S, Gronitz, and Hirsbrunner). The two who didn't used instruments (Willson and Yamaha) that have a different sound concept--clearly a sound concept that fit with those players and their musical objectives.

I own a Yamaha 621, but I use it in lieu of a contrabass, and it's the contrabass-like characteristics of it coupled with high-range security that have appealed to me all these years. The B&S carries better and plays louder, which is why I was looking for another F, but I was also looking for that classic F-tuba sound.

Rick "who will someday look at the spectral differences between the B&S and the Yamaha" Denney



Follow Ups: