Dark Matter: Petite Concertante for Tuba and Piano

Dark Matter - Petite Concertante for Tuba and Piano is a musical meditation on the metaphorical and literal connotations that can be derived from the title words.  The music does have three distinct sections which are woven together to form a sort of triple entendre of meaning.  They are book-ended by “home” thematic material.

The first of the three sections, Moderato - bar 39, is meant to imply an “official” seriousness of tone with a developed and dialoguing theme between the soloist and accompaniment.  The second section, Doloroso - bar 89, is meant to be played out in quite a sombre context as if to amplify the intent of the previous section and go deeper into it.  This mood is eventually relieved as the piece opens up suggesting new possibilities to come.  The third section, Allegro - bar 153, sheds the sombre qualities and takes off to give us a more interstellar perspective.  The intent here is to celebrate the phenomenal astronomical research concerning the make-up of the universe - in particular that 70% of the material out there that we can’t see but nonetheless has quite a dramatic effect on how everything else (solar systems, galaxies, black holes, etc.) behave!  There is one quasi-literal illusion to throwing a switch on a super collider built into the music (bars 224-226) - though this composer confesses never actually having heard one! The music finally finds itself laced with minimalism garnished with coloristic effects and a soaring tuba part as it returns to a transformed version of the opening material.  The final flourish reminds us of the scope of this petite concertante.

This music was first performed on March 22, 2013 by the composer as soloist and the Washington State University Wind Ensemble directed by Dan Pham during the 2013 I.T.E.A. Northwest Regional Tuba & Euphonium Conference.