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Hello all!

My good friend, Matt Keown and I, present Feldspar by Evan C. Paul. It is a single movement piece in three parts for contrabass tuba and marimba. Below are the program notes from Evan:

"Feldspar is a common mineral found throughout the world. It is formed through the crystallization of magma and is also found in certain sedimentary rocks. Many varieties are dull and opaque in appearance; however, feldspar is widely used to make glass and ceramics.

This work is a single movement in three parts—fast, slow, fast—with a focus on triadic harmonies, fourths and fifths. In the first part I followed mid-century American models, with architectural and strongly structured phrases, especially in terms of the shifting rhythms and open sonorities. The slow second part begins with short cadenzas that serve as a dialogue between the instruments before opening up into a lyrical exploration that accelerates into the commanding, driving finale.

In Feldspar I sought to exemplify the properties of the mineral through the properties of the marimba and tuba—the dull, hollow ring of the marimba’s wood and the sharpness of the mallet attack, along with the bright brassiness but mellow sound-body of the tuba." - ECP

We hope you enjoy it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wrMSq1x8xM" target="_blank

All the best,

Joe Ready

Sounds fantastic, Joe! Always looking for new additions to the repertoire.

It's nice to know that composers can still write fine music that doesn't require novel or odd ways to play the instrument(s). Evan Paul has produced a solid, musically satisfying composition which would work well with different instrumentation than what is presented here. Yet in addition to its highly accessible harmonic structure, the combination of marimba and tuba compliment each other. Each part can be heard independently, but the pairing of these two timbres is very congenial.

It's also a plus to have a viable addition to the solo/chamber repertoire for contrabass tuba. Such a high percentage of tuba solo literature is written for bass tuba that we miss out on the warm, comforting tessitura and tonal qualities of the contrabass instrument.

Video production with the 2-camera set up comes across as much more professional and interesting than most YouTube entries. The fine stereo audio placement makes this an excellent listening experience.

Finally, Joe, Matt and you appear and sound entirely comfortable with this music--an excellent performance.

Thanks for sharing it with TubeNet readers.

Nice job on this, Joe. I am sorry to have missed this recital, and I really enjoyed it at your recital. Great work, and some really nice finesse on some of those parts. Well done! Loved the video, too, and agreed on the dual camera setup.

A few words from Evan C. Paul:

"Thanks, everyone, for the kind feedback! It was a challenging ensemble for a commission but I'm glad I took it on. I've been writing for tuba for a while and I've come to love the low end of the instrument as well as the high. I looked for a way to exploit all of the wonderful aspects of each instrument and I think that I was successful in giving each instrument its own voice. If anyone is interested in the piece, let me know!" -- ECP

Evan's email is: evancpaul@gmail.com" target="_blank