ConcertinopourTubaetOrchestre,EugèneJosephBozza(1905-1991)
Most known for his compositions of chamber music for wind instruments, Eugène Bozza was a French composer and conductor who earned a Premier Prix for his playing, conducting, and compositions, and later won the Prix de Rome for his La légende de Roukmāni (1934). Concertino pour Tuba was originally written for Bb Bass Saxhorn, the French cousin of the tuba, and chamber orchestra. The Saxhorn’s use has faded over the years and this piece is now most often played on tuba. A review of Bozza’s music by Paul Griffiths states that Bozza’s works show “a high level the qualities characteristic of mid-20th-century French chamber music: melodic fluency, elegance of structure, and a consistently sensitive concern for instrumental capabilities.” Bozza is known for virtuosic writing and the humor with which he presents it.
Written three short years after Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote the first major Tuba Concerto in 1954, Bozza’s Concertino for Tuba (1957) explores the capabilities of the performer and is another cornerstone work of the modern tuba repertoire. Very interesting in terms of melody and sonority, this piece shows the full range of the Tuba at its best. The first movement of this Concertino for Tuba is written more like a bassoon part rather than the tuba, exemplifies the French style of writing with its nimble, light, and disjunct melodic passages. The second movement, reminiscent of the opening bassoon solo from Stravinsky’s famous Rite of Spring, which was completed in Stravinsky’s time in Paris, and the groundwork for a later work of his titled New Orleans (1962) for bass trombone, explores jazz harmony with his weaving improvisatory-styled lines. Finally, his third movement is back to a quicker tempo with its joyful and rhythmic melody. The piece will leave you laughing during the cadenza where Bozza pokes fun at Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
CelloSuiteNo.2inDminorBMV1008,JohannSebastianBach(1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach, J.S. Bach, is one of the most well-known and important composers in western music history. Known as the musician’s composer, Bach was a late Baroque German composer and organist and has an extremely large body of work, known for such works as his Brandenburg Concertos, Goldberg Variations, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, and many, many more. Bach was particularly known for his mastery of counterpoint and harmony.
Bach’s Cello Suites are some of the most often performed works for the cello, frequently performed for recitals and competitions. The suites are from circa 1720, when Bach lived in Cöthen, but no original manuscripts have survived from this time. It is only through a hand-written copy by Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena, that scholars have been able to put together what is presumed to be an authentic edition of the original six suites. Typical for all the cello suites, they are in six movements with the first movement being a prelude followed by Baroque dances for all the other movements. The movements being performed today are I. Prelude, IV. Sarabande, and II. Allemande. As popular Baroque dance, Sarabande originates as a sung dance in Latin America and Spain, coming to Italy in the early 17th century as a part of the repertory of Spanish guitar. This slow Sarabande is typical of what the dance came to be in France and Germany. The second movement, Allemande, comes from the name of Germany in French (Allemagne) and was a German social dance. Allemande was a popular Baroque instrumental dance and was originally a moderate duple-meter dance in two or three strains. The allemande came to be the most highly stylized of all Baroque dances. The version you will hear in this suite is quite a bit slower than a typical allemande.
The edition of this piece being performed today was arranged by Douglas Yeo (b. 1955) in 2001. Yeo is an orchestral bass trombonist who has played with the Boston Symphony, been on the faculty of Peabody Conservatory of Music as well as the New England Conservatory of Music and has appeared as a soloist for many different orchestras As an extremely active member of the music community, Yeo is a leading exponent of historical brasses and has written numerous articles on trombone and orchestral playing. The goal of Douglas’ version was to keep all the notes that Bach wrote but remove things which the trombone can’t play, such as double stops, creating a “balance of fidelity to the original source and practical considerations needed when playing on trombone.” He leaves minimal phrase and dynamic marks, allowing the music to be re-interpreted in fresh ways each time. He offers his version to be freely printed and distributed on his website: yeodoug.com. CONTINUE
Vocalise,Op.34,No.14,SergeiRachmaninoff(1873-1943)
Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, Sergei Rachmaninoff was one of the last great representatives of Russian late Romanticism. Rachmaninoff was born into a musical family and began to learn the piano from a young age He would later study piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory, where he would befriend fellow student Alexader Scriabin. Shortly after Rachmaninoff’s graduation, one of his biggest influences passed away, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which shocked the young Rachmaninoff and put him into a long period of depression where he composed very little. He later found his footing again as a conductor. Uninterested in the politics in Russia at the time, he left for Germany in 1906, where he found most of his work as a touring pianist and composer. After the 1917 Revolutions in Russia, Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia for good, settling in the United States.
Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise (1915) is the last of a larger collection of songs titled 14 Romances, Op.34 and was originally written for high voice and piano containing no words, being sung with one vowel of the singer’s choosing. The piece is dedicated to soprano singer Antonia Nezhdanova, a Russian and Soviet lyric coloratura soprano, who first premiered the arrangement for soprano and orchestra. Instrumental arrangements of this piece are more often heard than the original vocal version.
The arrangement of this version was created by Virginia Allen (b.1953), an American composer, conductor, and educator, as well as a pioneer for women in military bands. Her appointment as Principal Conductor of the U.S. Army Band made her the first woman to conduct an active-duty military band that included women. After leaving the military she worked at Julliard School, the Curtis Institute, as well as founded the Conducting Workshop for Music Educators and the Philadelphia Wind Symphony. Her version, written for tuba, transposes the original Csharp minor down a half step to C minor.
ConcertinoforTubaandWindInstruments, RolfAlexanderWilhelm(1927-2013)
Known in the German film scene for his scores in the films Die feuerrote Baronesse (1959), Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard (1963) and Gestern gelesen (1969), Rolf Alexander Wilhelm was a German film composer, arranger, and conductor, often referred to as German John Williams. Wilhelm spent his early years in Berlin and Vienna and went on to study at Vienna University of Music in 1942. A year later, Rolf was drafted for military service and quickly became a prisoner of war. He was only able to resume his studies at the University of Music in Munich after returning in 1946. He got his start as a freelancer composer writing radio plays for entertainment and children’s radio. From there he was able to launch a career in film composing and has written the music for over 65 feature films, around 500 television films, and about 350 commercials. While he made the most of his fame and money through his film compositions, Wilhelm had a presence in the concert hall as a composer and guest conductor.
Rolf Wilhelm’s Concertino for Tuba and Wind Instruments was premiered in 1983 at the International Tuba Euphonium Conference hosted by The University of Maryland. It was premiered by famed Robert “Bob” Tucci who played with the United States Air Force Band. A program note from the publisher states, “The composer's intention was to create a readily comprehensible, uncomplicated and jovial piece for this fascinating instrument. At the same time, he wanted to refute the old prejudice that the tuba was a clumsy monster suitable only for march music. Especially the second movement proves how expressive and lyrical this adaptable instrument is.” The piece is in three movements and follows the typical Fast-Slow-Fast format. The first movement titled Moderato Deciso opens with a bold, almost militaristic statement from the tuba which soon fades away into a jovial ragtime feel section. After a brief cadenza, the first movement ends with a light-hearted 6/8 section, which foreshadows the last movement. Andante Lirico is the second, and it is a brief but beautifully lyrical movement. The final movement titled Allegro Comodo brings back the fun lightheartedness of the opening movement but brings it to the extreme, ending the piece at a carnival