Frackenpohl's Concertino for Tuba and String Orchestra

[Phil Dawson]

This is a nice piece of music. I dig it out to play for my own amusment several times a year. I just moved and can't lay my hands on it at the moment but I believe that it was written for one of the major orchestral players in the 50s or 60s. One shouldn't be ashamed to play this piece at any level. There is much more to playing music well than range and technique. With this piece you can really work on musicality.
Phil

[numbnutstubist]

The piece was composed for Abe Torchinsky. It's a fine piece, but the first movement I would say is a stockpile of previous material (most first movements of multiple movement works sound exactly the same as this one.) The second movement is absolutely beautiful and the third is a catchy tuneful pirate tune. It's one of those pieces that isn't exactly easy, but will make you sound good after just a little bit of work.

Happy playing.

As far as recordings go, Tony Clements gave a possible answer for this question in a past post. Hope it helps:

Zack Spellman of the SF Opera Orchestra played it a couple of years ago with the Fremont Symphony. You may want to call him to see if he got it recorded.

[tclements]

I'm playing it in January (2005)with the San Jose Chamber orchestra. I'll be pl;aying the cadenz that Zack Spellman wrote. There is an excellen recording (Zack's) you'll have to contact Johnson Digital Audio (http://www.johnsondigital.com/) and aks for info.