| The first time I played it, I used an old Monke rotary D. Not easy.
Subsequent performances were on a piston C - not easy, but considerably more manageable. Lately I've been using my rotary C with good results, although probably still not optimum. If I could track down a superb rotary D, that would probably be my choice of horn. It does lock you into open Gs in the third mvt, which could be problematic as they tend to be rather sharp on many instruments.
When I was in school, we didn't play much Beethoven. It wasn't until I was out working that I discovered how taxing those symphonies really are. The 7th and 9th are bears, and the 5th isn't exactly a walk in the park, either...
J |