However much fun it may be at first, and however fabulously virtuosic the soloist may be (and Oystein Baadsvik is as amazing as they come), hearing an entire program consisting of stuff like Vivaldi’s Winter, or Grieg’s Anitra’s Dance arranged for tuba and strings might very well outlive its cuteness value pretty quickly. So Baadsvik wisely mixes things up a bit, by including such inherently less-than-serious items such as Vittorio Monti’s Csárdas (where he somehow manages a convincing tuba approximation of schmaltzy violin vibrato) and Arban’s Carnival of Venice. The main work, however, a perfectly lovely neoclassical concerto for tuba and strings by Arild Plau (b. 1920), allows the soloist to display his expressive credentials–and deserves to enter the repertoire of tuba virtuosos everywhere. Similarly impressive is Thomas Steven’s entertainingly brief Variations in the Olden Style, based on a tune taken from Bach’s French Suites. State of the art recorded sound caps an extremely well planned, perfectly executed recital in which humor, charm, and virtuosity combine to make the best possible case for the tuba as star of the show, at least once in a while.
