Monday Musical Moment: MMM: “Tuba” and Trumpets!

Happy Monday!

As many of you know, I was away this weekend playing a concert with my trumpet/organ duo, Deux Voix, at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. If you are ever in the area, I cannot recommend highly enough for you to stop by and take in the truly incredible acoustics in their sanctuary.

I’ve been fortunate over my career thus far to play in some world-class acoustical spaces, which got me thinking of just how important a space to music is. I think an aspect of live music that is often taken for granted is that, whether you a vocalist or instrumentalist, the space IS the instrument, especially in a space like St. Michaels. Organists in are more aware than most of that fact, as most pipe organs are made specifically to fill or compliment the particular space in which they reside.

Unfortunately, I did miss an important weekend in the musical life of our city. The Houston Symphony officially welcomed its new music director, Slovakian conductor Juraj Valčuha, with a series of performances of Verdi’s Requiem. Since I missed this momentous piece and occasion, I though I would share a bit of it with you today.

If you are not familiar with this particular setting of the Requiem mass, it is quite different from the Beethoven, Mozart, Rutter, or other more commonly performed settings. Italian Romantic composer Guiseppe Verdi was first and foremost an opera composer, and a bold one at that. You may know some of his most popular works, like Rigoletto, Otello, Aida, and many others. He was a master of creating dramatic moments, a skill that he uses to accentuate the evocative mass texts, such as the famous Dies Irae, or “Day of Wrath.”

One of the most epic moments of the mass comes in the third part of the Dies Irae, the Tuba Mirum. The text translates roughly as follows:

Now, if you’re familiar with the Mozart setting of this, you will remember it as a lovely, subdued aria sung by the bass soloist, with a single accompanying trombone, moving together in beautiful harmony… that is NOT what happens in Verdi’s version, which includes the full power of the orchestra, four off-stage trumpets, and of course, a huge chorus. This recording features the genius of Daniel Barenboim conducting at the Teatro alla Scala with their orchestra.

I hope some of you were able to be a part of the special performances this weekend to welcome Houston’s new maestro!