Schubert Unfinished question

[dukesboneman]

I have a performance of The Unfinished coming up and just have a question to put before those of you that have played it before.
Tenor, Tenor, Bass section
or
Alto , Tenor , Bass section

[BGuttman]

We did it TTB. There's nothing in the 1st part that particularly requires an alto.

[EriKon]

Agree with that. Have played it on a medium bore straight tenor which was fine.

[BGuttman]

Having the 1st on anything from a Conn 6H to a Bach 36 should provide just the sound needed.

[CalgaryTbone]

I've always played it on tenor, but I'm of the generation where alto was kind of a novelty when I was starting my career. A lot of younger players play the Schubert 9 on alto, but this piece, along with the Brahms Symphonies has been the inspiration for some of those players to have a larger alto setup for the "bigger" alto tunes. Either a larger alto, larger mouthpiece or both. If I'm not mistaken, Ian Bousefield makes reference to that in the descriptions of his mouthpiece models, where he has an alto model, but describes one of the small tenor mouthpieces as being a good choice on alto for those works. Michael Lake, the great jazz alto player surveyed a bunch of players and included their equipment in a method book that he sells, and several other orchestra players had a smaller and larger option in their alto equipment for just this purpose.

Jim Scott

[BrianJohnston]

TTB for Schubert 8

1st trombone should slightly downsize if they can, Bach 36 or a 42 with a smaller MP

[BGuttman]

There is something to be said for a section where the 1st is on a smaller bore tenor, 2nd is on a large bore tenor, and 3rd is on a bass.

I remember bringing my 1925 Olds to a rehearsal where we were playing Sibelius 2 and finding the blend with the horns in some chordal passages to be remarkable. Much better than my regular 0.547 horn (a Yamaha 682 with a 1G Shires bell).

[Matt K]

The more I play my 525/547 w/ 8” bell the more I like it. Haven’t played much with people in the last few years though. Tons of extra clarity over a 547 and a touch less breadth of sound. Perfect for parts like this.

[Posaunus]

For this very early Romantic symphony (1822) I might consider 1st on small-bore tenor, 2nd on medium-bore tenor, and 3rd on large-bore tenor. I don't think a bass trombone (or even an F-attachment) is necessary, since it wouldn't have been used at that time.

[silverslideman]

For this very early Romantic symphony (1822) I might consider 1st on small-bore tenor, 2nd on medium-bore tenor, and 3rd on large-bore tenor. I don't think a bass trombone (or even an F-attachment) is necessary, since it wouldn't have been used at that time.

For this I’ve used a Holton TR159 (dual 547/559, 9” bell, with a 3G mpiece) on bass, and been pleased with the result.
My thinking was:
- A 562/9½/1½G is too big (Either I play all the accents and sound too loud, or don’t play em and sound bland)
- But the bass should still be bigger than the tenors (pyramid of sound), and *they were playing 547s*
The difference in spec between the 159 and a regular 547/8½ may seem tiny, but I both played all the accents and sfz without getting told to shut up, and also produced enough weight to support the tenors.
I’ve also used it in Rossini and the Franck symphony.

[AndrewMeronek]

I haven't done this one before. quickly looking through the score on IMSLP, I see there is not a whole lot of play with the "1st alto trombone" and oboes, or for that matter, splitting the alto off from the rest of the trombone section to occasionally act as a "4th trumpet". In either of those two cases, playing alto instead of tenor can really be a fun experience, at least I think so.

I also noticed "Trombe in E". So - for blend with the trump section affecting choice of trombones, that's probably a question for your trumpeters to see what they actually play those parts on.

There is also some "independent" joining of the 3rd "bass" trombone with some D horn hits.

[CalgaryTbone]

I'm not sure if this post was edited, or if I mis-read it earlier, but my earlier response was for the Schubert 9th (C major) not the 8th (Unfinished). Some years ago, I started playing the Unfinished on alto. The part isn't that high, but I really like the transparency of the sound of the alto, and I like that the 3 trombones still blend but they also have slightly different sounds from one another.

Schubert 9 is a more difficult choice - it is a more full-bodied orchestration, and there is a lot of fairly loud unison playing that is a lot easier to get together with a section of B flat trombones. Obviously, if you are in the "alto camp" on this issue, you just deal with those issues and appreciate those lighter qualities that I talked about in the 8th Symphony, and make the other playing work.

Jim Scott