A tuba concerto being written by a major composer is a rare thing indeed. Thank you, RVW for seeing the potential in this instrument, and thanks for posting.
@@BeeBee-iz4mi Errrrgh please! I'm doing the 1st movement for my school's concerto competition next year and it's so hard to play without missing every other note, especially considering I use a BBb
Vaughan Williams had a gift for melodic writing. He was one of the editors of the modern Anglican hymnal, which he said was a great education because it acquainted him with some of the best (and worst) melodies ever written.
This is awesome. It’s like an old warrior telling the tale of his homeland’s fall from prosperity. I never would’ve expected a tuba concerto to draw such emotion
This is a miracle to see this posted!! The Tuba is the most unappreciated instrument by far!! My hat is off to the person who posted this!!! I''ve performed this , but that was about 30 yrs ago LOL Thanks so much!!
You want to hear an instrument that’s underrated. Try viola. As a tuba player, I sympathize with the violas so much. Tubas make their loud presence known in an orchestra. Violas mostly just support the violin section. You want to hear a cool viola solo, check out the Jacob druckman viola concerto.
4:42 OMG I found it! I had this song burned onto a cd back when I was a teenager and would listen to it on repeat for hours. I've been looking for ii.Romanza for months...almost had tears of joy :'D One of my favourite pieces.
Playing this on Bb is the easiest thing in the world. No it's not, who am I kidding. I'm barely able to play in on Bb Euph because the range requirements are so large. Curse the range. I still love the piece.
thanks for posting. When I was with Boulder Phil. we had a tuba solist, I think it was Harvey Phillips., I sat right next to him in viola section. Also here in SD CA we had a female tubist, also marathon runner that I was friends with. DG SA CA
As a tuba player i played this all throughout high school just for its beauty. Even fantasized about doing it for solo ensemble but it was too long. Just playing the 2nd movement killed my chops every time. I come back to this song every couple of months and wonder in how someone could put this masterpiece together especially for the instrument witch is stereo typically a rough sounding instrument.
I love the change in time signature as well as my favorite instrument getting the spotlight. I think the orchestra playing the backing to the tuba is a really intuitive idea, and taking something we all know and love and giving it a new approach.
i know, i hate people like "oh im in ninth grade and i can play this, its super fun." i doubt it. if you can even get the notes out i doubt they make it musical.
Started playing this recording out of curiosity at well after 3am. Wound up listening to the whole thing anyway because I could not bear to stop it! What fun!
@@theosmith2214 you don't need to transpose when playing on a Bb I believe. Same notes, just different fingerings. For example: the note "C" is the sheet music is the same note on all tuba sheet music. But depending on the key, the fingering for that will change. On Bb, it is either 4th valve or 1st valve depending on the octave. but on a Cc tuba, it is open. All has to do with the overtone series that the tuba was built to play in.
I think the major breakthrough VW discovered with this piece is how powerfully low the tuba can go. In Cello and double bass concertos, I feel like they tend not to use the lower strings/notes because composers know they'll get lost in the orchestra, but here some of the moments where the Tuba shines the most is where it goes way down there and really gives the orchestra some depth.
Haha, that's funny because I just played Romanza for my sophomore year in high school. Honestly was a great decision, the movement is beautiful and once you get the range perfected it sounds amazing. I've probably listened to the Arnold Jacobs version at least 100 times...
My B flat at school hits the high notes fine but my personal tuba just conks out nothing after the top b flat just above the staff. Nothing higher sounds good despite them sounding good on my school instrument, so I just play some of it down the octave
I was under the impression that this is for a contrabass tuba and that bass tubas are also considered baritones. Does anyone have a fuller understanding of the topic?
contrabass=C and Bflat tubas, bass= f and eflat tubas. The Euphonium/baritone is very similar to a tuba, and is tuned in bflat one octave higher than a bflat contrabass tuba. Most tuba music is fine on either contrabass or bass tubas, so they're generally treated as the same instrument. However, some of the higher solos (like this or the Penderecki Capriccio) really should be played on a bass.
Heard this song for the first time tonight, it really moved me. Not an avid classical music listener but it’s a type of Music that can stir emotion in anyone, that very last cacophonous measure literally terrified me, shook me , in a fantastically good way
This is amazing, but I get the feeling it would be more widely known (and better IMO) if made for a wider range of brass instead of solo tuba. This could have been a AAA symphony. Some very oriental vibes as well with the pentatonic melody.
You shouldn't it is far to hard for 4th grade orchestra. It is ment for London symphonic orchestra and others like that. You are probably playing a simplified version. Like very simplified.
I was am still a trumpet player but I switched to tuba and the high notes it gets easy it was just hard getting used to the mouth peice but other than that I love tuba and I plan on doing this peice for my jury right before I leave and transfer to another college
After about a minute Vaughan Williams' joke starts to get a bit annoying. And it is a joke; the bass tuba sounds like a comedy fat man in a slapstick film. Only a bass tuba player could listen to this deadpan and possibly believe it's serious. This is clearly shown in the comments here. Much like those who marvel at someone's ability to write the Lord's Prayer on a pinhead; without the slightest understanding of what the words actually mean. The effect here is so obviously comic... to call it beautiful completely misunderstands what it is trying to do. Like all great classical composers Vaughan Williams jokes really belong in end of the Pier theatre.
If you can't hear the beauty in this piece, especially the second movement, then you really don't have a good ear for music. This piece is in no way a joke, and Vaughan Williams never called it as such. If you can't understand that, then you don't belong here.