Larry Zalkind at CSO’s ‘Beyond the Score’

I came across a blog post the other day that mentioned Utah Symphony trombonist Larry Zalkind and a performance of his with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Beyond the Score’ series. The series looks awesome – the first half of each concert is a multimedia presentation about the music in the concert. The second half is the performance. In short, instead of you having to read the program notes, they are presented to you before the music is performed. As I’m sure many symphony-goers have discovered, learning about a piece of music’s historical and artistic significance before hearing it performed really enhances the symphony experience. I imagine that the series sells very well.

Anyway, the blog caught my attention and I contacted Larry to find out if there were any other interesting details. For this particular performance Larry was performing Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. As I expected, there’s a pretty cool backstory involving the instrument.

When they first asked Larry to perform, they told him they would be getting a French C Tenor Tuba for the performance. Tuba’s are usually B-flat instruments, and anyone who has played a brass instrument can sympathize with having to perform on an instrument in a different key. It more or less involves learning a new way to play the instrument (such as different fingering for notes). I can imagine that performing a solo on an instrument that you’re unfamiliar with can be nerve-racking, but I guess that’s why they’re the professionals!

It turns out that Gary Offenloch (Utah Symphony’s Principal Tuba) has a French C Tenor Tuba that he displays proudly on his mantel. According to Larry, this tuba is Gary’s pride and joy, and he treasures this instrument more than anything he own. Gary obtained it years ago in Boston, which happened to be the place that Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition premiered

Well, it turns out that this tuba was the instrument used for the premier of Mussorgsky’s piece that Larry was performing! In fact, the instrument was chosen for the premier because the composer, Ravel, thought its sound was perfect for the piece. Larry talked Gary into taking the instrument off the mantel so he could use it in the CSO performance, and they worked on getting it moving again (which I’m sure involved lots of valve oil).

When Gerard McBurney (the Beyond the Store Creative Director) learned that Larry had found the original tuba, they changed the show to incorporate the instrument into it (the first half, I assume). Even though it was an old horn in an unfamiliar key, everything turned out well. The conductor loved the sound of the original instrument so much that he took pictures and is carrying them to show everyone what horn the piece should be played with.

I hope that we’re able to bring this production to Utah sometime so that you’re able to see it yourself.

Here are some of the pictures that were taken while Larry was in Chicago:

Larry playing the horn for a special donor lunch.

Larry with former Utah Symphony tubist Gene Pokorny.

Charles Dutois with Larry Zalkind.

At one of the performances playing Bydlo.