Posted by Steve Marcus on October 09, 2002 at 15:04:36:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: 5 valve BBb Tubas posted by Art H on October 08, 2002 at 22:55:52:
The first time that the concert B-natural appears in "Montage" is in bar 37 of the first movement. The tempo is marked Allegro maestoso where dotted quarter note = 76. The catabile mf passage in question is in quarter notes at these concert pitches: FF, DD, FF, DD, DD-flat, BBB, FF, GG-flat, AA-flat, BB-double flat (AA), GG-flat, D-flat, GG-flat, DD-flat, crescendo to CCC (dotted half note) at fortissimo, AAA (dotted half tied to an eighth) that decresendos to p.
It seems that you'd have to pull slides pretty fast to accommodate that concert BBB. The point of the post is that a 5th valve on a BBb horn would help here. I actually play it on a CC horn, so the concert BBB (and the concert DD-flat, using all 5 valves) does not pose an intonation problem.
Now, endurance and tone production in that passage are another matter!!!
There is also a concert BBB held for a long time at the end of the second movement of "Montage," but you would have time to pull a slide for that one.