Luke Zyla felt musically challenged by a modern piece SWIM, which featured two groups PLAYING IN AN EMPTY SWIMMING POOL I am not sure whether it was the music, or the emptiness of the swimming pool that gave Luke difficulty. However, filling the pool would solve both problems at once.
Such performances are not nearly as avant garde or as intolerable as Luke may believe. The opening scene of DAS REINGOLD, for example, take place at the bottom of the Rhein river. Of course, it is never actually performed underwater, which would present additional challenges to the horns in the opening, as well as making it difficult for singers to reach high seas. So it is usually sung at the bottom of the empty Rhein River.
In Schoenberg's MOSES AND AARON, Moses, who is a wandering conductor, waves his baton to cause a parting of the Red Sea. This is the same general effect as an empty swimming pool. The Pharoah's army follows Moses, leading to a watery doom. This is why I prefer not to follow conductors too closely.
In the score to THE GALILEE QUICK-STEP, Alpert specifies that the band is to walk on the surface of the water. It is not known whether the horns have the tune in the trio section, since most marching bands performing this piece disappear about halfway through the first strain, long before the first repeat. I am amazed that this piece does not appear on more auditions.
Gotta go,
The Cabbage