Euphoniums and tubas alternate solemn and big bop sounds

SEELEY LAKE – The overhead stage lights of the Seeley-Swan High School auditorium bounced off the bronze cone-shaped bells of seven tubas and five euphoniums Feb. 13 as University of Montana Euphonium and Tuba Consort performed for a crowd of more than 40 people (on Super Bowl Sunday!).

According to Conductor Benedict Kirby, a tuba has a five-octave range, starting lower than the sound a piano can play. Its smaller cousin, the euphonium, starts an octave higher and has a four and a half octave range. The low tones are well suited to solemn arrangements such as Franz Biebel's "Ave Maria" played by the Consort with highlights from euphonium soloists Jethro Thorne, Nathan Mayhack and Marshall Softich. Kirby described Biebel's arrangement as "sublime."

Thorne and Mayhack along with tuba players Andre Cuelar and Jaden Tooke, who have formed a quartet group called "TUBISSIMO," performed a piece from Joseph Hayden's "The Creation" entitled "Achieved is the Glorious Work."

Another piece Kirby also described as sublime was the "Adagio" (a slow tempo piece) that introduces Camille Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3. Though the piece was written for an orchestra composed of strings, piano, organ and a host of wind and percussion instruments, the rendition the U of M Consort played was arranged for tuba and euphonium by one of the Consort's own members Lane Uhlberg.

If the two instruments excel at low, slow, sublime compositions, Kirby dispelled any belief that euphoniums and tubas are confined only to that realm of music. The rendition of "Cinematic Fantasy," composed by Zach Collins, successfully imitated the background music movies employ to signify turmoil and strife, create tension at the appropriate moments, or imply peace and harmony.

Euphonium soloist Jethro Thorne, accompanied by Mac Merchant on piano, played a challenging piece titled "Harlequin." One of the stock characters of Italian slapstick comedy performance of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries called "commedia dell'arte," the harlequin was witty and acrobatic, but also amorous and childlike. The stock, stereotypical characters wore happy or sad masks. The Harlequin musical solo composed by Philip Sparke consists of two movements which he describes as "a slow modal ballad followed by a frenetic faster movement." During the intermission, many members of the audience could be overheard commenting on the musical versatility the euphonium exhibited in playing the faster movement and the skill of Thorne's virtuoso performance of the piece.

Drawn by the sounds of percussionist Sam Purvis' drums, the audience hurried to their seats after the intermission to be even more amazed by the Consort's "Latin fusion rock" version of the Dizzy Gillespie hit "Tin Tin Deo." That was followed by an energetic new work called "Big Bop Nouveau Tuba!" composed specifically for the 2 Valleys Stage concert by conductor Kirby. Kirby said he just decided to name the concert they intended to perform in Seeley Lake the Big Bop Nouveau Tuba! Concert. Then he said he liked the sound of the words so much that he decided to create a euphonium/tuba piece to go with the words. Debuted at the Feb. 13 concert, the lively piece ended with a big crescendo BOP. When later asked how the climactic sound was achieved, Kirby said, "By pressing all the valves down at the same time, which lowers the fundamental frequency, then releasing them in a slur as high as they can go, as fast as they can go."

In accordance with the 2 Valleys Stage contract, the TUBISSIMO! quartet will spend Monday and Tuesday teaching and entertaining local elementary and high school students with the enormous range of sounds euphoniums and tubas can produce.

The next performers Alpine Artisans' 2 Valleys Stage will bring to the community will be LP and the Vinyl March 27 at the Seeley Lake Community Hall.