Interesting. The small-bore G bass trombone was common in England for
years, not completely fading out until the 1960s. I didn't know it was
played in Eastern Europe at all.
RBH
Christopher Smith wrote:
On 22-Jan-09, at 22-Jan-09 2:42 PM, Ray Horton wrote:
This whole area of research has been more interesting to me as a bass
trombonist, who has always assumed that the F bass trombone was
standard, until replaced by a Bb with F valve. With both men's
research we find that the F bass, throughout the classical and into
the romantics, was often desired but rare and considered difficult to
play.
I heard a G bass trombone (!) played by the bass trombonist for the
Czech national orchestra back in 1981 or 82, when it was still part of
the USSR. It was the only instrument he had ever played, since he was
an adolescent, and he used it exclusively for all bass trombone parts
played by the orchestra. He was sixty or so at the time, and played
beautifully. The sound was like nothing we had ever heard before, and
he admitted that it suited some repertoire better than others, but he
had to play it regardless. I couldn't imagine Mahler FFF on it, as it
was more like a sackbut in timbre, but it was impressive, and his
control was impeccable.
Christopher
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