Tubist Tom Curry's debut solo recording, Alight, features rarely-performed 20th-century works for tuba.

Tubist Tom Curry's debut solo recording, Alight, features rarely-performed 20th-century works for tuba. With an expressive range which spans from somber to sublime to outright violent, this collection explores themes of isolation and despair, peace and solemnity. Curry collaborates with pianist Vincent Fuh on Sofia Gubaidulina's intensely poignant Lamento as well as the premiere recording of William Bardwell's austere Sonata for Tuba and Piano. Iva Ugrcic joins them on Composition No.1 'Dona Nobis Pacem' by Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya, a brutal, severe masterpiece for piccolo, tuba and piano. Giacinto Scelsi's Maknongan, an undulating exploration of timbre for unaccompanied tuba, and transcriptions of works by Maurice Ravel and Willson Osborne also appear on this album.

Tom Curry serves on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Mead Witter School of Music and is the tubist in the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. As a soloist, his interests include non-traditional performance techniques and settings, the application of electronics and fixed media, and improvisation. He has been invited to perform at numerous conferences, festivals and international competitions and has commissioned, premiered and composed works for tuba in a wide variety of contexts. He continues to work to expand not only the repertoire, but also the concept of the tuba as a solo instrument. On Alight, Curry explores these technical and expressive boundaries while highlighting solo tuba repertoire from the 1960s and 70s.

Maurice Ravel - Deux mélodies hébraïques (1914)
Giacinto Scelsi - Maknongan (1976)
Sofia Gubaidulina - Lamento (1977)
William Bardwell - Sonata for tuba and piano (1968)
Willson Osborne - Rhapsody (1958)
Galina Ustvolskaya - Composition No. 1 'Dona Nobis Pacem' (1971)

Tom Curry - tuba
Vincent Fuh - piano
Iva Ugrčić - piccolo

Track Listing

• Deux melodies hébraïques: 1. Kaddisch
• Deux melodies hébraïques: 2. L'énigme éternelle
• Maknongan
• Lamento
• Sonata for Tuba and Piano: 1. Dialogue
• Sonata for Tuba and Piano: 2. Scherzo
• Sonata for Tuba and Piano: 3. Passacaglia
• Rhapsody
• Composition No. 1 'Dona Nobis Pacem'

Additional Details

Label: Summit Records

Genre: Classical

Language: English

Run Time: 59 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 07/20/18

UPC: 099402718927