Wynton Marsalis’ Tuba Concerto praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer
Wynton Marsalis’ Tuba Concerto had its World Premiere on December 9th at the Kimmel Center with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Carol Jantsch (Photo credit: Jeff Fusco)
Philadelphia Orchestra premieres Wynton Marsalis’ newest — A Tuba Concerto
By David Patrick Stearns
The Philadelphia Inquirer
December 11, 2021
On The Philadelphia Orchestra’s weekend subscription concerts, a world premiere co-commission for an unusual soloist by the great jazz trumpeter/composer — in a program (repeated 2 p.m. Sunday at the Kimmel Center) that also features white-hot Brahms led by music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Performance-wise, what I heard Friday was in the top three concerts of Nézet-Séguin’s tenure —really — just as he is about to take a monthlong sabbatical.
Tuba concertos are few: The instrument is most often used as the foundation for the orchestra’s sonority, not something for the spotlight. But the orchestra’s Carol Jantsch significantly expands what the instrument can do, and Marsalis’ new concerto fuses those powers with a great sense of humor in a piece that must’ve been a blast to write.
Among the better-known tuba concertos, Ralph Vaughan Williams surrounded the instrument with his customary prettiness, John Williams found depth of soul in the tuba’s depth of sound, and Michael Daugherty used it as a source of American Impressionism. Marsalis’ playful, four-movement work often has the tuba over a busy mass of orchestral activity — I enjoy his interruptive impulsivity and ability to go several directions at once — in what often seems like a catalog of rhythm, with the instrumentalist’s hand clapping as well as playing.
Jantsch’s intricate but effortless-sounding passagework showed how Marsalis is conceiving long spans of music with greater clarity than before. Another new development in this piece is a witty sense of knowing when a movement needs to stop. And perhaps only a fellow brass player like Marsalis could hope for Jantsch’s convincing use of extended techniques that can be only vaguely described as simultaneous blowing and humming.
For information on the concerts, click here.
To read the full review, click here.