Kesh Jig Concerto (tuba and piano) Wellden

Staffan Lundén-Welden (b. 1964) studied the horn at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and works as a freelance horn player. He made his début as a composer in 1989, and since then he has been approached by various orchestras, ensembles and soloists; he has also written music for the theatre and dance. He is currently (2003) working on a children’s opera for the Vadstena Academy and a cello concerto for the Jönköping Sinfonietta. ‘Øystein wanted an arrangement, with variations, of the Irish folk melody Keshgig. I decided to write the piece as a tuba concerto in one movement. As I was unfamiliar with the principles of concerto form, I turned to an old master for help. I studied the form of the first movement of Mozart’s Third Horn Concerto, and how he alternates melodies, and major and minor keys. After decorating the gig with a couple of melodies of my own, I omitted the cadenza that is obligatory in a solo concerto and wrote instead a fugue on a variant of the gig’s main theme. If Bach could have seen it, he would no doubt have made a number of corrections in red ink. Mozart and Irish folk musicians, too, would probably have some reservations about this piece of music. I regard it as a study work that crosses genre boundaries, and I hope in all humility that it possesses the entertainment value for which I have striven.’ The Kesh Jig Concerto is recorded on BIS CD 1285 by Øystein Baadsvik and Musica Vitae. The CD is available from www.baadsvik.com. See sound and pdf samples for further information.