Re: Re: American brass playing and ethnocentrism


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

Posted by Richard on July 15, 2000 at 14:14:22:

In Reply to: Re: American brass playing and ethnocentrism posted by Leland on July 15, 2000 at 01:33:20:

Interesting thread, so far. Some of us are bashing what we used to idolize. The really professional orchestras in the US are not, I believe, characterized by brass lead players who consistantly bury everyone else. Sometimes brass SECTIONS bury everyone else, but the best orchestral brass in the US today, as exemplified by New York and Chicago, play with a clarity, blend, and depth of tone, and no individual sticks out like a sore thumb. Or as the guy in HMS Pinafore says, "What never? Well hardly ever."

The Vienna Phil brass? A tradition of great horn and trumpet playing that goes back to the Jurassic. Great low brass? A recent phenominon. I date the turnaround to some 15 to 20 years, whenever Ron Pizarkiewicz got the tuba job. He plays with a real sound, and the trombones have likewise opened up, stopped "oinking", and play clearly and solidly in tune. Listen to recordings by the VPO made in the 50s and 60s, and compare them to those made in the 80s and 90s.

Compare the playing in Solti's Elektra (Decca) to that in Sinopili's (DG). For the insular world of the tuba, compare the tuba playing in Solti's Ring recordings of Das Rheingold and Siegfried, with that on his Die Walkure and Gotterdammerung. Rheingold and Siegfried were played by the regular guy. Walkure and Gotterdammerung were played by Bob Tucci, in his early twenties, in Vienna on a scholarship. He lucked into some great subbing, and we get to hear some tangible results. And he was playing a Holton 6/4. In any event, tuba playing of that quality would not be heard again at the Staatsoper or the Philharmonic until Pisarkiewicz got there.


Follow Ups: