Posted by Jay Bertolet on July 02, 1999 at 08:33:49:
In Reply to: Re: Re: contrabass concerto? posted by Steve Marcus on July 01, 1999 at 22:45:06:
When I spoke to the composer, back in 1986 (I think) at the ITEC held at University of Texas at Austin, he told me his conception was for the piece to be played on a big tuba, either CC or BBb. Part of his rational for writing the piece, he said, was to give tuba players a piece that was specifically written for their main instrument. Now, this was a number of years ago and I haven't heard Sam's recording of the piece yet so I don't know if we're even talking about the same piece. When I saw the piece, only the first movement was finished so I have no knowledge about the other movements. Mr. Anderson was "shopping the piece around" trying to get players interested in his work. I really liked what I saw then and I told him so. I also told him that I'd be very interested in performing the piece when it was completed but we fell out of touch after the conference. I never heard from him again so I pretty much dropped it.
I have to say that I was very happy he got his piece performed. I've rarely met a composer who had such a zeal for the tuba. But if we are talking about the same piece, it sounds like he made some changes in his approach since I talked to him. I don't remember seeing any writing even over the staff in the manuscript he showed me so what you describe would be a complete departure from what he showed me. The reason this sticks in my head is that I had just won my gig here and had spent the better part of the prior 3 years working on, and doing competitions with, the Vaughan-Williams Concerto. I was really in a mood for a lyrical, melodic, CC tuba piece that didn't stay above the staff the whole time. I even worked with a composer at the University of Michigan in trying to get such a piece. My description to him was "a piece that is like the Vaughan-Williams but written for the CC tuba". This composer, Michael Gileadi, came up with a wonderful little piece but it never really caught on. So, when I met Mr. Anderson, I was still looking for that type of piece. I'll have to get ahold of his completed Concerto and see the finished product. I hope I haven't given a bad piece of advice!