Rhapsody in Red, White, & Blue

Tubas, euphoniums, mouthpieces, and anything music-related.
Forum rules
This section is for posts that are directly related to performance, performers, or equipment. Social issues are allowed, as long as they are directly related to those categories. If you see a post that you cannot respond to with respect and courtesy, we ask that you do not respond at all.
Post Reply
User avatar
bloke
Mid South Music
Posts: 19385
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:55 am
Location: western Tennessee - near Memphis
Has thanked: 3864 times
Been thanked: 4127 times

Rhapsody in Red, White, & Blue

Post by bloke »

> Has anyone else been contracted (assuming a tuba part) to accompany this new piano concerto?
> Assuming a tuba part (because I know for certain - via experiences - that I'm playing on the other pieces in the concert) is it donuts or dots?





User avatar
bloke
Mid South Music
Posts: 19385
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:55 am
Location: western Tennessee - near Memphis
Has thanked: 3864 times
Been thanked: 4127 times

Re: Rhapsody in Red, White, & Blue

Post by bloke »

OK...
Unexpectedly the parts for this concert (this is not one of the orch's in Tenn...yet another orch. out-of-state) were mailed to me (original parts - yikes! :facepalm2: )

The "new" piece is one of those busy-yet-not-difficult tuba parts (seldom rests longer than eight bars - and seldomly-occurring...ie. probably "too much tuba").

They are also playing Rhapsody in Blue (yeah...the regular Gershwin) which has been *edited/arranged, and (just as with those laughably-busy as-if-tuba-player-written Dvorak 9 parts) it's way-WAY too much tuba, but whatever (if I'm there, I might as well play too many notes, yes?) It's seven - count-'em SEVEN - pages packed with notes - and (like the "new" piece) very few rests... As I'm posting, Google tells me that the arranger is a guitar player, and I'm now seeing that - underneath the title - is printed "Chamber Orchestra Edition"...so (as I also read that he arranged R.I.B. for guitar solo - this must have been arranged for a specific concert where he performed the solo guitar part) I suppose I'm covering (???) stuff like second bassoon, bass trombone, 4th horn, E.H. (??) etc. - just as with those scaled-down orchestrations when Broadway shows hit the road. (I will make certain that Fat Bastard really makes an ass of himself. :smilie2: )

Also send was Copland's Rodeo and a 4-pager John Williams "E.T." thing - whereby Williams KNOWS how to write for tuba, there are plenty of rests, and people don't grow weary of hearing that plump/low/umbrella sound.

finger-wagging "y'all oughtah's":
Composers arrangers need to reserve nearly wall-to-wall jolly/phat tuba sound for yuletide charts...and mix in a bunch of those fragile/delicate/sparsely-orchestrated/reminiscent-of-crisp-fresh-fallen-snow/loaded-with-weird-foreign-onomatopoeiae-such-as-"fum" charts - at Christmas concerts - to offset the jolly/phat wall-to-wall tuba ones...and (obviously) I'm not referring to wind bands, where the tubas have to cover what would have preferably been given to the double basses."


That red-circled low A-flat (in p.1 of the ORIGINAL R.I.B. part - shown below) is my FAVORITE tuba note in the entire piece (an important tempo-setting downbeat) - particularly if played on fat/resonant B-flat tuba (such as Fat Bastard) in a big hall with nice acoustics (' actually played in last year in Memphis - with all of those factors in place).

_________________________________________________________
*As it is finally in public domain (as previously - of course - I didn't possess a copy of this part :eyes: ), here is p.1 (of 4, and with tons of rests) of the original tuba part. Notice the trombone cues in G-flat major...In the ARRANGEMENT I've been handed, I'm friggin' PLAYING that mess. :bugeyes:
RIB1.png
RIB1.png (108.89 KiB) Viewed 6083 times
User avatar
Three Valves
Posts: 4615
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 4:07 pm
Location: The Land of Pleasant Living
Has thanked: 819 times
Been thanked: 506 times

Re: Rhapsody in Red, White, & Blue

Post by Three Valves »

At about 3:00 in I started to hear this in my head;

When I was young
I never needed anyone
And makin' love was just for fun
Those days are gone

I hate it when that happens! :gaah:
Thought Criminal
Mack Brass Artiste
TU422L with TU25
1964 Conn 36k with CB Arnold Jacobs
Accent (By B&S) 952R with Bach12
The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column
User avatar
bloke
Mid South Music
Posts: 19385
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:55 am
Location: western Tennessee - near Memphis
Has thanked: 3864 times
Been thanked: 4127 times

Re: Rhapsody in Red, White, & Blue

Post by bloke »

The music director and I texted back-and-forth, and they actually choose the "chamber orchestra" version of Rhapsody in Blue purposefully...

...They tell me it's really similarly orchestrated when compared to the original (Grofé, which would mean Paul Whiteman Band) orchestration, and they like it...

...so here's to the TUBA (hmm...sousaphone...??) playing a whole bunch of stuff in a piano concerto... :tuba:


Image



first recording (Gershwin/Whiteman/Grofé) in 1924:
(and no: Bix Beiderbecke did not join the Whiteman Band until 1928.)




mid-1940's movie fantasy/depiction of the debut...' nice Martin Mammoth, back there...
These users thanked the author bloke for the post:
Three Valves (Sat Oct 21, 2023 1:14 pm)
User avatar
bloke
Mid South Music
Posts: 19385
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:55 am
Location: western Tennessee - near Memphis
Has thanked: 3864 times
Been thanked: 4127 times

Re: Rhapsody in Red, White, & Blue

Post by bloke »

The principal trombonist did some digging around and found that this chamber orchestra version of Rhapsody in Blue features one trumpet, one horn, one trombone, and one tuba.

It's sort of funny how - when orchestrations are reduced, the wind parts start looking more like band parts.

He sent me this link which shows the list of parts.

https://www.berenspopslibrary.com/catal ... ra-edition

score:
https://www.berenspopslibrary.com/s/SAM ... hamber.pdf
User avatar
Mark
Posts: 319
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 4:40 pm
Has thanked: 30 times
Been thanked: 88 times

Re: Rhapsody in Red, White, & Blue

Post by Mark »

I played a concert entitled Red, White and Rhapsody in Blue. Kimberly Russ Olka (Chris Olka's wife) was the soloist. Kim in a tremendous, Julliard educated, pianist.
Post Reply