Somewhat related to Valerie's story, a lot of you know the Nonet for
Eight Horns and Tuba by Alec Wilder. Very nice work for a not so usual
combination. But if you have played the piece you also know that the
top two horn parts are screamingly high. High enough that it can be
very difficult to find the forces to perform the piece at all, let
alone well.
Some years ago at the (now defunct) Music Festival of Arkansas we had
six fine horn players between the faculty and students, a first rate
brass section as well, and I saw a rare opportunity. So I had the two
trumpet faculty perform the top two parts on flugels, the rest of us
on horn and, of course, the tuba. Made for a very satisfactory
performance of a piece that otherwise just wouldn't have been
possible. And the sound of the flugels fit the Wilder style just
perfectly. Give it a try.
Holiday cheers to all, by the way,
Tim Thompson
Timothy F. Thompson
Professor of Music
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
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