TubaForum.net

Hello everyone, and first of all, a Happy New Year 2025 to all of you!

The tuba took center stage as the Instrument of the Year in 2024, and there were sooo many amazing concerts, workshops, etc.—far too many to list them all.

I personally ended the year 2024 with a New Year’s Eve concert in Bad Homburg:

Má Vlast by Bedřich Smetana in a historic performance version on period Bohemian instruments.

The valve trombones in Bb and F date back to the Austro-Hungarian era, and the Bb tuba is a Bohland & Fuchs from around 1890.

A very charming tone color, in my opinion. Here you can hear an excerpt from the 4th movement of the symphonic poem.

Many thanks to my colleagues: Norbert, Lukas, and Thomas. You were amazing!

Wishing you all the best, happiness, and health for 2025!

They're doing a remarkably good job of negotiating the intonation tendencies with those instruments, as are you. To me, that's what a trombone should sound like - as far as tonal color is concerned, and less like a French horn section (as so many tend to sound a little bit too "pretty").
In the same way that it may be sort of difficult to end up with a really good condition American sousaphone in central Europe, it's difficult to end up with instruments of that style in good condition in the States. Typically, the ones that are found on eBay offered by European sellers are "ragged out" - or second rate in the first place, and mostly suitable for wall decor.