Description
Concertino was commissioned by Sérgio Carolino (Principal tuba, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, Portugal) for premiere with the Banda Sinfónica Portuguesa, under the artistic direction of Francisco Ferreira. Sérgio Carolino is an extremely diverse and inquisitive performer, with forays into jazz, funk and duets with a DJ to his credit. To take advantage of this, one of the aims of Concertino is to give this unique performer an opportunity to showcase a varied palette of skills within a symphonic band setting. Andrew Batterham has often assimilated several different musical languages into his work, and so the journey from traditional wind band music, through funk and jazz improvisation, to dance modern styles was an exciting one.
The piece is divided into two halves. The first is couched in a Classical, common-chord musical language, developing traditional material in a slow, soulful way. The second half develops the same material, but utilising beat-oriented styles such as funk and techno, resulting in a varied musical canvas upon which the soloist can express themselves in spectacular fashion.
