Posted by Rick Denney on February 01, 2004 at 12:29:04:
In Reply to: Re: Army tuba/euph grand concert comments posted by Chris on January 31, 2004 at 23:38:21:
The Junction quartet played very well, and the music was fantastically difficult. As good as they are, they were stretched to their limit, it seemed to me. I hope the composer (who was present) noted this fact. I found myself wishing for one complete musical thought to be fully developed, rather than what a colleague described as a "sampler." I was left with more admiration for the musicians than for the music, which is not, I suspect, the point of performance. But the admiration was still considerable.
Gene Pokorny, on the other hand, cemented his position in my mind as one of the great tuba players in the world. In a conference dominated by F tubas, Gene played a 6/4 C, and in a conference dominated (in the Elephant Room, at least) by by fuzzy, airy sounds on big tubas, Gene's sound was clear and focused, but still with the big-horn depth. Rather than exploring high range, he made real music in the pedal register.
The Bagatelles that Gene played were not technically as challenging as the quartet concerto, nor did they explore the performer's range or bag of tricks. What they did do was pull a hushed silence from the audience. I found myself wanting that music. That seems to me to be the point of performance. To pull that off required an effortless command of everything. The dynamic range was astounding, but for all the range it was also remarkably subtle. It was musicianship any musician would admire, and all the better for seeming so effortless. Rather than being merely impressed, I was moved.
And it was a touch of class for him to come out with the others to play Them Basses, though the lesson of that for me is to avoid playing a Yorkbrunner while standing if you're old enough to need Harry Potter glasses.
Rick "who thinks it is likely more demanding ultimately to play moderately difficult stuff to sheer musical perfection than supremely difficult stuff pretty well" Denney