Michael Mulcahy plays Leopold Mozart (part 1)

Concerto for Alto Trombone, in D major by Leopold Mozart
Michael Mulcahy, soloist
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

[@colbone1]

One of the best musicians in the trombone world to be sure. Always inspiring.

[@philosophicallyspeaking6463]

Nicely done (don't let the American 'way' spoil you). I wish this piece had been around when I was performing. So much of the repertoire, like the Albrectsberger and Wagenseil concertos, are conspicuously second rate compositions, and I was unable to be thankful for the small mercy of their presence when I needed repertoire, so I loathed them every time I played them in recital. Eventually, not being willing to assault another audience with the Creston et al, and having performed the Tomasi and the Bloch (the only musically relevant trombone concertos in the repertoire in my time that an audience 'might' find favor for) more times than I can count, I retired them all and moved to transcriptions of all kinds, and finally felt musically motivated and additive. Then I just retired. I was much happier as a retired orchestral trombonist playing music...musically, instead of orchestrally where volume and inordinate sustain are all that matters, and their constant entertainment disturbs a more...natural lyrical approach and soloistic approach to the trombone and the technique and facility excluded by the pursuit of inordinate tone and volume.

[@danielnewman134]

That is amazing. The Horn really sings.

[@DezzaManezza154]

Such a beautiful tone :)

[@Shdan125]

Thanks for posting. Never knew Leo wrote such beautiful music.

[@LuisFredTrombon]

YES!!! It has finally made it, beautiful playing maestro.

[@benz442]

...simply beautiful.

[@Mulcbone]

Beautiful playing, Mick!

[@T9oooix]

what a fine composition.

[@peterschwander8420]

Wonderful!

[@grahamm3139]

Beautiful

[@AndersHarstadhaugen]

Awesome sound!

[@oldman719]

Beautiful tone.

[@evanclifton1786]

He did that because in the original context of the piece, in Leopold Mozart's Grand Serenade, that's the order. They're actually the 6th, 7th, and 8th mvts. But for performance by themselves it can go either way, you can do it in the original order or 2, 3, 1.

[@I2A52]

greatest...!

[@arcstrider5728]

Greatness

[@tanjaba]

awesome :)

[@ever1270]

Fantástico,de uruguay.

[@orrochman6982]

!lovely sound, bravo

[@kurditto96]

pocos pueden superar esto

[@brassheavy]

I wish I could sing like that............

[@jackmatranga2539]

Flippin' WOW! Does Arnold Jacob's spirit live on here?

[@wenhueichong951]

A beautiful sound which needs more elegance on top,Bravo!

[@felixburghelea]

what year is this concert from? I assume is in the 90s, when Barnenboim was CSOs music director.

[@MuchSmarterThanYou]

Beautiful, elegant, rock-solid playing. Sounds like it's about one cycle flat, though. I think he shades the notes just a bit flat to achieve a somewhat darker sound. The best performance of this I ever heard was by Branimir Slokar.

[@brennannelson2086]

2:18

[@thomasnelson2979]

amazingly beautiful playing isn't it?

[@bckm54]

I used to play the baritone trombone, very sparingly (I played many instruments, 12 or 13, and the trombone was down the list, probably #9 or 10), but that doesn't mean I didn't love it. I just wasn't very good at it. One thing I noticed with trombone music is that there aren't many trills (at least, not that I remember). One of the trombone's many good qualities is that is inherently a melodic instrument, meaning it can sing much better than many others. Question to all the trombone virtuosi out there: is the trill just one of the trombone's "occupational hazards"? I think the tone is beautiful, but it should get more time in the sun than this and the Rimski-Korsakov...

[@tanjaba]

Late answer: trills are really hard to play. you can't do it with the slide (just image it XD). on some notes you can fake it with the valve but real trills are really, really fast lip slurs. you need to practise this for a long time and it's really difficult to achieve this flexibility

[@bckm54]

Anja, thank you for your reply. It's good to know the tradeoffs on a beautiful instrument like any of the trombones. I can easily imagine playing with the trombone parts and pairing them with another instrument, like the French Horn, and telling the hornist he or she has to trill while the trombone is busy carrying the melodic line... :)

[@Keygo]

If I had to guess, I think it's in Eb.

[@martin1024]

Mike Kitts he takes D Major second position so Eb

[@trmbnkory]

Umm Mulcahy played the 2nd movement first then 3 and 1. He can do whatever the hell he wants.

[@giovannigallegos4060]

What town did he say they found it in? I cant spell it to save my life

[@AndyHirt]

Trombone in D?? Could this have been written for a tromba da tirarsi?? (the melody is slow-not many quick notes-that's how melodies for the TDT were written). I wonder what the score actually says...

[@profesorvictorromano1753]

Maybe it was originally written for a sackbutt.

[@valvetrom]

alto trombone, in F or in Eb?

[@martin1024]

Hermann Otto Eb

[@eddimull]

Dang... I was hoping for a pretty redhead

[@pccbassbone]

@mortalfrog0815 I think you need to look up the definition of irony...

[@gjbassbone]

It's the second movement. Try doing some research.

[@arischoellner5201]

2:05