Tuba-player Øystein Baadsvik has been
responsible for embellishing the repertoire of his instrument
to the tune of forty premiere performances. His achievement
along with those of fellow Scandinavians Christian Lindberg
(trombone) and Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet) says a good
deal about the pioneering spirit of Nordic brass players.
Like Lindberg, Baadsvik was also a late
starter, not taking the instrument up until the age of
fifteen but then progressing with all haste to win first
prize in a major Norwegian competition for soloists just
three years later. It was a victory that soon started him
on a career that quickly included solo performances with
a number of Norway’s leading orchestras.
Since then, Baadsvik has gone on to carve
a reputation as one of the only, if not totally solitary
practitioners of the instrument to maintain a strong profile
as a soloist alone, not having combined that career with
a chair in a major orchestra or teaching post. It’s quite
an achievement given that it was not very long ago that
the tuba was still regarded as something of a “comedy instrument”,
a soloistic outsider amongst the other orchestral array.
Baadsvik is not the only performer to
have released solo CDs in recent years. The 2006 Naxos
release of British tuba concertos performed by James Gourlay
was a considerable success (see
review), whilst several
star performers prominent in the brass world including Stephen
Sykes
and
Joseph Cook have also released recent solo discs. In Baadsvik’s
hands though, the instrument really does take on a wholly
striking dimension. This is largely marked by his innate
musicality and effortless technique. That technique is
employed to particularly telling effect in the slower music
on this new disc, where he makes the instrument sing in
its upper register with ear-opening results.
The Vaughan Williams
Tuba Concerto
in F Minor is above all others the staple concerto
of the repertoire and was also included by James Gourlay
on his Naxos disc. Gourlay’s is a fine recording although
Baadsvik, a touch lighter in sound than his English counterpart,
is wonderfully eloquent in the central
Romanza which
he plays with a natural feel for the line and phrasing
of VW’s mellifluous melody. The opening
Prelude and
concluding
Rondo all’ Tedesca are no less impressive.
The
Finale in particular demonstrates the exceptional
clarity of Baadsvik’s articulation in the nimble athleticism
called for by the composer.
Alexander Arutiunian is perhaps better
known for his
Trumpet Concerto than the later
Concerto
for Tuba and Orchestra of 1992. The latter work
possesses much of the same Armenian melodic character of
the former, coupled with an irrepressible sense of fun
and high spirits in the outer movements. Conversely, the
central
Andante sostenuto is a much more serious
affair and the soloist once again captures the composer’s
wish to “let the instrument sing” with some style. Khachaturian
is a clear influence in Arutiunian’s music but its infectious
melodies and lively rhythms make for entertaining listening.
In this respect at least, the
Tuba Concerto is easily
the equal of its partner for trumpet.
Lundquist’s
Landscape, for the
unusual combination of tuba, string orchestra and piano,
is perhaps the most intriguing of the works on the disc
but also turns out to be the most rewarding in its conception
as a whole. Cast in three continuously played sections,
Lundquist set out to prove the tuba an equal amongst its
orchestral counterparts. It’s a feat he achieves by providing
a solo part of particularly testing virtuosity, alternating
passages of technical brilliance and reflection in the
opening section with an at times song-like central section
and a concluding cadenza that serves to take the music
back to its beginnings to end in questioning fashion on
the note with which it began.
As exciting as John Williams’ film music
is, it is nonetheless a refreshing change to hear him away
from the realms of ET, Star Wars and Superman. His 1985
Concerto
for Tuba and Orchestra, written for the Boston Pops
Orchestra’s solo tuba player Chester Schmitz during Williams’ own
tenure with the orchestra, serves to evidence just how
fine a composer Williams is for the concert hall. Whilst
there are passages and rhythmic devices that point clearly
towards the familiarity of his film music, there is also
a good deal of music in the Concerto that whets the appetite
for more of Williams on the concert stage.
Of the four works on the disc, this is
the most the most strikingly virtuosic of them all and
Baadsvik responds in almost hair-raising fashion with the
elusive, distant quality of the slow movement playing to
his lyrical strengths. The pyrotechnics of the highly dynamic
final
Allegro molto are despatched with both disarming
ease and panache. If ever evidence was needed of the tuba’s
ability to be agile, this is it.
Anne Manson and the Singapore Symphony
Orchestra provide sensitive, musically aware accompaniment
throughout and contribute significantly to an entertaining
and enjoyable release that further marks out Øystein Baadsvik
as a tuba-player of rare quality. Even if solo brass music
is not your regular diet, there is much to discover here
that might just take you into new and eminently listenable
musical territory.
Christopher Thomas
Øystein
Baadsvik (tuba) 
