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There actually were some articles in today's Chicago Tribune that had nothing to do with the White Sox sweep of the ALDS (don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that the White Sox are going to face LA or NY). John von Rhein's review of Thursday evening's CSO concert had a photo with this caption:

Daniel Barenboim conducts as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs the world premiere of 96-year-old Elliott Carter's "Soundings," which packs a lot of invention into its dozen minutes.

The article goes on:

Carter celebrates the two Barenboims, giving him music to play at the piano and lot more music to conduct, but never at the same time...In between, Carter gives us a parade of rapidly shifting orchestral ideas...[including] a pensive tuba solo that's actually longer than the entire piano part.

Did anyone hear the performance of "Soundings?" Any comments?

Perhaps the tubist himself might sneak out of lurk mode and offer some insight???

Not getting on Sean's website too often, I did see Steve's post and thought to reply. I actually had not seen the review in the Chicago Tribune. In any case, I thought I would tell you a little a bit about the solo. Before that you should know that the piece was specifically written for Barenboim in this, his final year as music director of the Chicago Symphony. Carter had never written any obvious tuba solos in any of the music we have played of his in the last 15 years. In any case, he threw an 18 measure tuba solo in near the conclusion of this piece which is rather lyrical and fraught with some wide interval skips. The lowest note is a low G a few leger spaces below the staff and the highest note is a high Eb a few leger lines about the staff. The only thing awkward was a trill from second line B up a whole step to C#. It is not the cleanest sounding trill to perform. Carter eventually decided to make it a half-step trill from B to C natural. In any case, at the conclusion of the performance I saw Elliot Carter backstage and thanked him for writing a tuba concerto that I didn't have to personally commission him for. He appreciated the humor. We perform this music again on tour at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 4. Cheers, Gene