Daniel Rowland - "Widening Circles: New Works for Tuba" - Album Review

 "Widening Circles: New Works for Tuba" - Album Review

ft. Daniel Rowland and Kaju Lee

While wide-ranging, Widening Circles conventional works come across as more refined in terms of composition, performance, and recording quality. 

Despite the unfortunate album title, tubist Daniel Rowland, along with Kaju Lee on piano (both are on faculty at the University of Wisconsin - Platteville), brings together a pleasant assortment of new short and lyrical pieces featuring the uncommon solo instrument. Rowland's programming on this album includes traditional sounding works for tuba and piano, computerized pieces for tuba and electronics, and the mysterious, lugubrious timbre of Jessica Rudman's writing for unaccompanied tuba in Two Portraits of Nyx.

While wide-ranging, Widening Circles conventional works come across as more refined in terms of composition, performance, and recording quality. The first and last pieces on the album, Metal Monday (2019) and Data Decay (2022), both include electronics. However, even though both pieces were written within the last couple years, they sound as though they were composed for computer music classes in the nineties. Brown's Metal Monday places the tuba as the frontman of a mediocre metal band, with playback sounds which are definitely GarageBand loops; Hynds' Data Decay has Rowland play cells of notes, sometimes with unstable multiphonics, all while someone offstage repeatedly plays the game over screen from the original 8-bit Super Mario Bros.

The titular piece, Widening Circles by Joshua William Mills, is a three-movement beauty inspired by poems of Rainer Maria Rilke. Mills' modal lines are memorable and engaging, all while utilizing the full comfortable range of the instrument. The piano expertly supports the soloist and melodic lines with intricate rhythmic density making it much more than a basic accompaniment part. Rowland and Lee's interpretation is exquisite, but Mills piano writing allows for us to hear how amazing Lee is as a collaborate pianist. Due to the achievable level of the solo part and heavy Romantic-inspired writing, I hope Rowland's definitive recording promotes Mills' piece so it will begin to show up on repertoire lists for college-aged and above players.

the full album "Widening Circles: New Works for Tuba" is available for streaming on most major platforms - check out the YouTube Music playlist here

Widening Circles was recorded by MarksMasters and can be purchased as an mp3 or hard copy here

© 2023 Brutal New Music Reviews
originally written and published 14 June 2023

please send any and all questions/comments/complaints/suggestions to:

brutalnewmusicreviews@gmail.com

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