Posted by Klaus on January 22, 2003 at 06:28:42:
In Reply to: Re: Vaughan-Williams Concerto with Jacobs posted by Brian Frederiksen on January 22, 2003 at 00:25:26:
Aside from the in this context insignificant detail about Barenboims wife (Jacqueline du Pre, a wonderful artist in her own right, but with an incredibly sad fate, please see link given below here), this post is great reading.
Seen from very far away it is obvious, that there is a cult about Mr. Jacobs. A well deserved one.
But when one of the little TubeNet boys from the fairy tale about the Emperors new clothes points out, that not even a tuba deity can perform optimally under bad conditions, then this little boy is almost decapitated.
That is why the posting of my "half" countryman Brian represents this great reading. Nobody would ever have found Brian being disloyal to Mr. Jacobs here on TubeNet (which aside from a very brief exchange of mails on family history and from his website is the only place from where I know Brian).
Yet Brian enters this thread and more or less says: "We should revere and admire Mr. Jacobs, but not necessarily on matters, that Mr. Jacobs was not happy with himself."
JoeS can be a pain in any body opening, not only the usual one. Still he has more foundation for his musical and technical opinions on the tuba and its music, than have most contributors to the TubeNet.
He is especially right, when he points out, that the standards for evaluating tuba playing is set much lower among tuba players, than it is set in the musical world as a whole.
I have committed my own musical crimes on several instruments, especially when I was young. And I have been banged on my head for that, but I have heard tuba players getting away with very ugly ensemble playing in bands and orchestras. I have heard amateur "virtuosos" being admired, even if they hardly have played one note in tune. A very much acclaimed brass ensemble has issued at least one CD with a sample of tuba playing, that I never would expect from top rated pro players, who are running their own business. A world level orchestra has recorded "Pictures" with a euph soloist, who lets all the high G#'s, that are slurred up to, precede by an F# as a grace note (that 7th partial should have been avoidable on that pro level).
I am not a pro and I am not even close to being a virtuoso, but when I am able to practise, I can play in tune with a good sound. So there are no sour grapes, when I say, that the samples listed above never would have been allowed on the horn and even less in the string world.
And yet we are not the only ones, that get tolerantly deaf towards our own instrument being played.
In 1974 I had the good fortune to be in the winning band at the Danish championship for brass bands. In the highest division, yes. The concert bands also competed that day, and I was very dissatisfied with the outcome there, as the winning band had their performance ruined totally by three oboes being terribly out of tune with themselves and with the band all the way through that contest piece, that became an endless pain to listen to.
Fate happened to let me meet one of the judges some months later on a conductor's course, that I attended in Norway. He happened to be a retired oboe player gone bandmaster in the British army. When I briefly asked him, why he could let such a band win, he answered, that he had felt pity for oboe players, because they played such a difficult instrument, so one should be tolerant on that point. I didn't agree then and don't agree now.
My conclusion would be, that the tuba is not served by having its standards set lower than those counting for other instruments. But on the other hand we also shall be fair towards our own.
Recently a pro contributor offered some MP3's of himself playing a new tuba model. He was violently criticised by a poster, who called the instrument/performance being out of tune.
That was not true. A more precise evaluation would have said, that a longer acquaintance with that specific new instrument would have allowed for more egality of sound between the notes in the various ranges. That is something very different and a much more tuba relevant approach.
This morning I have enjoyed to hear Mr. Jacobs mid-1980-ies rendition of the VW's 2nd movement. I have not had the chance to learn whether he taught about egality, but he certainly had it in his own playing.
Klaus