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The tuba gets its turn
Carol Jantsch with 1807 & Friends
The Wister Quartet picked two string quartets that formed a perfect frame for the novelty at the center of the latest 1807 & Friends concert.
Mozart's youthful Quartet in C Major, K. 157, opens with an outpouring of cheerful melody, continues with a slow movement that plays like the scene-setting prelude to an opera, and ends with a workmanlike, good natured finish. Dvorak's Quartet in G Major, Opus 106, includes an adagio that runs through all the moods, dark and light, that a slow movement can create; but it is, overall, a basically upbeat piece, with a final movement that recreates the mood of a Czech barn dance.
The main event was the two pieces that featured the Philadelphia Orchestra's new principal tuba, Carol Jantsch. It's hard to resist smiling at the thought of a tuba playing the lead in a chamber piece. But Jantsch quickly proved she had come to produce music, not laughs.
A hint of saxophone
As a chamber instrument, the tuba can sound like a large, powerful version of three of the most seductive instruments in the musical arsenal: the horn, the trombone and the saxophone. In the middle section of Couperin's Pièces en Concert, Jantsch's tuba raced along like the horn in the hunting call sections of Mozart's horn concertos.
In Jantsch's second selection— a special arrangement of Arban's variations on the Carnival of Venice— there were passages when her tuba slipped into saxophone mode and created some of the smooth, evocative sound that Adolph Saxe's invention adds to ballroom numbers.
In other sections of Arban's virtuoso display piece, Jantsch somehow managed to create a bass beat under a flutter in the upper register. A tuba player in the audience assured me Jantsch really had played both parts simultaneously.
Strings overwhelmed
The weakness in the performance was the balance between the soloist and the Wister Quartet. The tuba overwhelmed its partners during most of the two pieces. At times the strings seemed almost irrelevant. The collaboration might have been more effective if the tuba had been placed toward the back of the stage.
But that's an understandable lapse. Chamber groups haven't amassed much experience with tuba soloists. Jantsch's enjoyable contribution proved the tuba's effectiveness as a solo instrument, and also that the Philadelphia Orchestra's tuba section can meet any demand a conductor or composer may impose upon it.
Mozart's youthful Quartet in C Major, K. 157, opens with an outpouring of cheerful melody, continues with a slow movement that plays like the scene-setting prelude to an opera, and ends with a workmanlike, good natured finish. Dvorak's Quartet in G Major, Opus 106, includes an adagio that runs through all the moods, dark and light, that a slow movement can create; but it is, overall, a basically upbeat piece, with a final movement that recreates the mood of a Czech barn dance.
The main event was the two pieces that featured the Philadelphia Orchestra's new principal tuba, Carol Jantsch. It's hard to resist smiling at the thought of a tuba playing the lead in a chamber piece. But Jantsch quickly proved she had come to produce music, not laughs.
A hint of saxophone
As a chamber instrument, the tuba can sound like a large, powerful version of three of the most seductive instruments in the musical arsenal: the horn, the trombone and the saxophone. In the middle section of Couperin's Pièces en Concert, Jantsch's tuba raced along like the horn in the hunting call sections of Mozart's horn concertos.
In Jantsch's second selection— a special arrangement of Arban's variations on the Carnival of Venice— there were passages when her tuba slipped into saxophone mode and created some of the smooth, evocative sound that Adolph Saxe's invention adds to ballroom numbers.
In other sections of Arban's virtuoso display piece, Jantsch somehow managed to create a bass beat under a flutter in the upper register. A tuba player in the audience assured me Jantsch really had played both parts simultaneously.
Strings overwhelmed
The weakness in the performance was the balance between the soloist and the Wister Quartet. The tuba overwhelmed its partners during most of the two pieces. At times the strings seemed almost irrelevant. The collaboration might have been more effective if the tuba had been placed toward the back of the stage.
But that's an understandable lapse. Chamber groups haven't amassed much experience with tuba soloists. Jantsch's enjoyable contribution proved the tuba's effectiveness as a solo instrument, and also that the Philadelphia Orchestra's tuba section can meet any demand a conductor or composer may impose upon it.
What, When, Where
1807 & Friends: Mozart String Quartet in C Major; Couperin, Pièces en Concert; Arban, Carnival of Venice; Dvorak, String Quartet in G Major. Wister Quartet (Nancy Bean, Davyd Booth, violins; Pamela Fay, viola; Lloyd Smith cello) with Carol Jantsch, tuba. March 23, 2009 at Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce St. (215) 438-4027 or www.1807andfriends.org.
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