Oompah Suite – Jay Hunsberger & James Wilson

Winner of the ITEA’s “Roger Bobo Award for Excellence in Recording”

Edited and mastered by the Grammy winning production team at SoundMirror, two of the finest young orchestral brass talents around present a program of musically tasty treats crafted for horn and tuba.

The late Tuba legend Harvey Phillips wrote ‘Jay Hunsberger is one of America’s premiere orchestral tubists, an experienced soloist and sensitive chamber music performer.’ Mr. Hunsberger is the Principal Tubist with the Sarasota Orchestra and Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Former principal in the Florida Orchestra, James Wilson has become one of the hottest young orchestral horn talents out there…

Wilder wrote not one but two Suites for Horn, Tuba and Piano. These works are wonderful vehicles for Wilder’s dense and diverse styles; they introduced the world to the surprisingly rich sonorities of the Horn and Tuba as partners in melody, and continue to serve as inspiration to other composers. It seems only fitting to offer Wilder’s Suite No. 2 for Horn, Tuba and Piano to the listener first on this CD- both for its masterful writing for the instruments as well as for its embodiment of friendship and musical collaboration. Wilder wrote the Suite No. 1 for Horn, Tuba and Piano in 1958 and the second suite in 1972.

Jan Bach (b. 1937) is very well known for his brass music, including concerti and chamber works. His Tuba Concerto (2003) was commissioned by the Sarasota Orchestra for Jay Hunsberger.

Norwegian composer Trygve Madsen (b. 1940) wrote his elegant Divertimento for Horn, Tuba and Piano, Op. 43 in 1986. It reflects the influences of different styles, from Art Tatum and George Shearing to Ravel and Shostakovich- providing the listener with a charming and at times haunting set of miniatures.

The New York Times describes Paul Basler’s (b. 1963) music as ‘virtuosic and highly athletic.’

Ken Bits for Horn and Tuba originated during Basler’s Fullbright Scholar year in Kenya in 1995.

Dance of the Ocean Breeze was written in 1977 for Roger Bobo and Froydis Ree Wekre, and strikes as a wonderful statement of the sunny Southern California state of mind. Born in 1939, acclaimed composer and jazz pianist Roger Kellaway continues to collaborate with many of the greatest artists and orchestras of our time.

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