Posted by Rick Denney on July 12, 2000 at 11:39:45:
In Reply to: Re: Re: F Tuba: American or German? posted by Steve Marcus on July 12, 2000 at 06:18:40:
The use of the small French C tuba by Ravel in his orchestration of Pictures suggests that a euphonium is probably the most appropriate modern instrument for the Bydlo. Though many tuba players prefer it on an F, not so many can play it reliably. A euphonium sounds much better than a cracked high G#, especially that piano entrance towards the end of the movement. I have a hard enough time with it on a euph (though, of course, no real euph player would have any trouble with it).
One friend of mine was asked by a conductor to play it on a CC instead of the French C tuba that my friend owned, because he though the sound would be more lumbering. My friend assured him that *his* French C tuba sound would be plenty unrefined for the purpose.
Bevan states that the smaller instrument was used not only for the Bydlo, but also for the low parts in the Promenade themes and for the big parts in the Great Gate of Kiev. I wonder. Ravel's La Valse has a big tuba part, where the tuba is alone and balancing the entire orchestra with it's oom-pah part. Certainly the small horn would present a real challenge in that literature. Based on that (thin) evidence that Ravel must have preferred a larger instrument at least some of the time, I choose to believe that Ravel intended the Pictures tuba part to be played on two instruments: A German BBb orchestral horn and a small French C tuba.
Rick "Harbors a secret desire to own one of these instruments" Denney