Beautiful playing by one of the world’s finest tuba soloists [PRJ]

Velvet with Orchestra
Barbara York (1949-2020)
Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra, Wars and Rumours of War (2006), second movement
Anna Segal (b. 1974)
Pandora: Concerto for Tuba (2022/3)
John Stevens (b. 1951)
Monument (2007)
Anna Segal (b. 1974)
Incantation: Concerto for Tuba (2019)
Roger Kellaway (b. 1939)
Dr. Martin Luther King, In Memoriam (1984, arr. Paul Ferguson)
Velvet Brown (tuba), Budapest Film Orchestra / Paul Polivnick
rec. 2023, Budapest, Hungary
Reviewed from download
Crystal Records CD697 [63]

Velvet Brown is one of the leading tuba players of the present day. Having performed around the world, she is currently the David P. Stone Endowed Professor for the School of Music at Penn State and Artist Faculty at Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She has made a number of records for Crystal Records including one I reviewed a couple of years ago (review). She has a particularly beautiful liquid tone in the mid to upper register of the instrument, something put to good use in the works on this disc.

Barbara York worked in both Canada and the United States for over 45 years and wrote much, very popular, music for brass and wind. A number of her works have become standard repertoire. One such work is her Tuba Concerto,which was commissioned in 2004 for Michael Fischer, and the Boise State University Symphony Orchestra. Although the subtitle of the work is Wars and Rumours of War, the composer said that, “this is not intended to be a political statement about war but is rather intended to be a philosophical and even rather intimate examination of the personal effect that this type of activity has on those who participate in it.“ 

Here, sadly, we get only the slow second movement in which Barbara York references the musical language of Rachmaninov. It shows the “hero” in pensive mood thinking of home and loved ones. It is pensive and lyrical with the tuba’s long lines supported by lush writing from the orchestra. It sounds curiously English and would work well with place brass.

Anna Segalis a Ukrainian/Israeli composer, a graduate of the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. On checking her website, it seems that she has written an extraordinary amount of music in all genres, including two tuba concertos.

Pandora, a concerto for tuba and wind ensemble, was commissioned for Velvet Brown by the tuba icon Roger Bobo. This version for tuba and orchestra was completed by the composer in 2023. Listening to the work I was puzzled by the title. Pandora is after all the beautiful woman who by opening the box/jar gifted her by Zeus unleashes misery, illness and suffering on the world. This work is really rather sunny and tuneful, there is no stress or misery or violence in it, rather long singing lines and deft colouration from the orchestra. The composer writes in her notes “the music explores curiosity, danger, and the fragile boundary between them.” I am afraid I heard none of that.  It is however a beautifully written work for tuba. The long lyrical passages sit beautifully on the instrument, with only occasional very high passages where the tuba loses its tuba sound and sounds like a euphonium. The translation from wind band to orchestra has been expertly handled by the composer.

The second work on the disc by Ms Segal is another concerto entitled Incantation, which began life as a work for tuba and piano. I have not heard the piano version, but like Bruce Broughton’s Tuba Concerto, which is an arrangement of his Tuba sonata, this works very well in its orchestral form. In seven very different sections the composer takes the soloist on an extensive stylistic journey. The outer movements are brilliant and fun; there is a truly virtuosic cadenza near the end, while in the slower central sections the tuba seems to be visiting a smoky night club, complete with cocktail piano. It is a very enjoyable work, given here what is surely a definitive performance.

The other works on the disc were recorded by Ms Brown in versions with piano accompaniment, on the disc mentioned above but it is wonderful to hear them here in full orchestral clothing.

John Stevens holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Yale School of Music. He had a long career playing tuba in the pit orchestras of Broadway and performed with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Ballet. He was the Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for almost 25 years and served an additional seven years as its director. 

Monument, recorded here, isa nine-minute elegy for solo tuba and strings, which was commissioned by Roger Bobo in memory of his great friend and colleague, tuba player Tommy Johnson (1935-2006). A monument in sound to a great musician, it is wonderful to hear it in its string version as was originally intended. The string writing brings greater depth of feeling than the piano version and the impeccable spacing of the string chords beautifully support and caress the tuba line. It is a true gem of the tuba repertoire.

Roger Kellaway is Grammy Award winner and Academy Award nominated pianist/composer who has worked with everyone from Duke Ellington and Elvis Presley to Barbra Streisand, and Yo-Yo Ma. His commissions include the 1970 ballet PAMTGG for George Balanchine and the New York City Ballet, and orchestral pieces for the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the National Symphony. He wrote Dr. Martin Luther King, In Memoriam in 1984 for Gary Buttery, tuba, and Gary Chapman, piano. For this recording, it has been brilliantly arranged for tuba and orchestra by Paul Ferguson artistic director of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra. Its three sections reference the African-American experience with echoes of gospel, hymn tunes, ragtime and jazz. The composer makes the most of what a tuba can do including some very high notes. It is, however, the soulful playing in the central section which really stands out.

As a onetime tuba player, I welcome any and all releases featuring the instrument. The standout work for me here is John Stevens’ Monument which in this orchestral version transcends its notes to become something truly moving. Velvet Brown is a superb musician; she has already recorded John Williams great concerto but I would dearly love to hear her in the Vaughan Williams, Edward Gregson masterworks.  Perhaps the excellent musicians of the Budapest Film Orchestra and Paul Polivnick, with whom she clearly has a great affinity, would like to produce another disc.

Paul RW Jackson