Posted by Andrew on October 15, 2000 at 12:51:47:
In Reply to: Vaughan Williams Concerto Part 2 posted by Justin Beish on October 14, 2000 at 21:35:19:
John used his (standard) pre-Sovereign 1970s Besson EEb in the recording and in fact for all his solo, ensemble and high-tessitura work. As far as I know John never owned or played a Sovereign-marque instrument. This EEb tuba of his wasn't a particularly good one....in fact many players thought it was awful...but he had a "soft-spot" for it and never changed it.
He also had a rare Boosey & Hawkes Imperial so-called 'cavalry' single Eb 4-valve compensating tuba. These were made specially for mounted service-bands till the 1950s. I had one myself and wish I'd kept it because they were delightful blows. John had this cavalry Eb converted to E natural specially for playing 'Bydlo'!! I don't know how many times he actually played 'Bydlo' on it.