Posted by Joe S. on October 07, 1999 at 23:58:19:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mirafone 184-5U CC for sale posted by Paul on October 07, 1999 at 00:37:41:
I almost schlocked the Alabama Symphony job with a 184 (runner up) at an audition (that I was not prepared for, and did not think that I would advance in at all, and indeed had, due to just quitting a college tuba teaching job, sold all of my other tubas) back in the early eighties before they went bust, and DID use that instrument exclusively with the Memphis Symphony to do that same year's season. I played The Planets on it (UNbelievable low D# on that little Mirafire-breather!), the Verdi Requiem, Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, Le Sacre du Printemps, Symphonie Fantastique, Nutcracker, and numerous other works that year on it...OH, and that Malcomb Arnold - Scottish(?)Dances thing, with the little tuba solo in a 3/4 mvt. I also used it in the pit for the (not oft done) complete "Love of Three Oranges" Prokofiev opera (exposed solos
The point is, one CAN get by with a 184 in a symphony orchestra. It is just that the current concept (actually defined by tuba players much more that conductors, who really don't care much at all WHAT type of instruments their tuba players show up with - as long as they DO show up) of an orchestral tuba is that of a CC jumbo sousaphone in the shape of a bell-up tuba - I believe most call that configuration "6/4". Yep, the "nineties" trend (in contrast to the "lightweight" fad of the late 1970's and early '80's) in virtually ALL types of wind instruments from oboes to trombones has been BIG/HEAVY/LOUD/THICK, possibly to the detriment of delicacy in orchestral performances by some artists. <