What happened there? Our KHO members tell us about a snapshot before the concert – this time with with principal tuba (trial year) Yuki Takbayashi, principal bass trombone Jörg Gerhardt and humour on stage.

Jörg: No idea (laughs). Maybe I’ve just come out with a bit of a quip? (Yuki grins.) We get on really well in the group – the trombones and the tuba, that is. Although the tuba complements the horns in the lower register in terms of its design, in the orchestra it sits with us.

Jörg: Ottorino Respighi wrote a passage where the principal trombone portrays a drunkard. But whether we can laugh at passages like that really depends on the situation. After all, we have to perform them perfectly. And funny passages aren’t necessarily easy to play.

Yuki: Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris’ springs to mind. There are lots of funny bits in it, for example for the principal trombone and principal trumpet, which are influenced by American jazz.

Yuki: That was at the family concert last December, where snow was a big thing. We were all asked to dress up a bit for Christmas. Some had reindeer antlers on their heads, or Santa hats. A few days beforehand, my colleagues said it would be nice if I played in a snowman costume. I thought it would be good for the children and ordered one. It’s a great thing to do at Christmas.

Yuki: The tuba can certainly be a humorous instrument. In Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”, there’s this scene in a tavern – a pub, basically – with a famous passage. In it, the tuba plays a single note on its own. It’s not hard to guess what that’s supposed to be (laughs). Incidentally, I’ve also played a chamber music piece with our brass players called “Frosty the Snowman”. It’s written like a little tuba concerto, I mostly played the melody. That’s also a good example of humour with the tuba.

Jörg: But what we definitely don’t want is for an instrument to be made a laughing stock. The tuba is versatile and can express the serious just as well as the aggressive or the cosy. And the trombone can portray not only the drunkard, but also respect, dignity or the trumpets of Jericho. Ultimately, every instrument can convey every emotion.

Yuki: It’s always a great pleasure for me to play Bruckner together. I was also thrilled by our ensemble playing in the recent performance of “Pini di Roma”. There isn’t much for the tuba to play, but what Respighi has written for it in this piece is very effective. It was a fantastic concert.

Jörg: When you think about how much time we spend with our colleagues, it’s important that we get on really well. And then it’s just fun to play together!

The Konzerthausorchester will play Bruckner in June next time – the programme features Symphony No. 7 under the baton of Iván Fischer. Of course, there will also be a ‘“Mittendrin” concert.