Three Furies for Tuba and Orchestra
(1995)

Commissioned by:
The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra

Instrumentation:
    solo tuba with 2.2.2.2/4.2.3.0/timp/2perc/strings

Duration:
    three movements, ca. 12:00

Featured at the 1998 International Tuba / Euphonium Conference, performed by the Minneapolis Pops, Mark Nelson, tuba

Comments and Reviews

... until [Grant's Three Furies] you could count the number of notable tuba concertos on the fingers of one hand... showed the tuba to have a deeply musical soul, considerable agility and strong capabilities of both dramatic and lyrical expression... the instrument played some lovely dark-hued melodies, produced a few flatulent blasts that might have started a bomb scare, and ventured mellowly into regions of sound that might remind you of a French horn... angry, abrupt, brilliant solo work in the third movement... this is an excellent piece of music and, as tubists will agree, badly needed...

Joseph McLellan
The Washington Post

... absolutely brilliant in scoring and support for the tuba... the "jazz" harmonies and rhythms of the second movement hearken back to earlier Ellington and Gershwin sounds, but with a more "cool" feel to the texture... the third movement is especially riveting in its drive, punctuated by the orchestra with tutti syncopated rhythms and sustained chords... rare to find such an excellent work...

Mark Nelson
New Music Editor, TUBA Journal

... a dazzling piece with great audience appeal, highly inventive and full of infectious ideas... a valuable addition to the tuba repertoire...

William Hudson, Music Director
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra

Program Notes

Three Furies for Tuba and Orchestra is an extension of an earlier work, Three Furies for Solo Tuba, which was composed in January and February of 1993 at the request of tubist Mark Nelson, to whom that work is gratefully dedicated. Both the solo and orchestral versions of the piece reflect the surprising -- indeed, remarkable -- flexibility possessed by the tuba, and offer a music that is immediate, good-natured and fun, requiring of the soloist both keen musicianship and physical stamina.

The 12-minute orchestral version of the Three Furies was penned in February of 1995 and is happily dedicated to the musicians of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, with special kudos going to principal tubist Michael Bunn.

Each of the Three Furies is virtuoso in its own right, offering a multiplicity of distinct rhythms, melodic figures and articulations:

Fury I is marked "decidedly jocular" and is a pleasant ramble through the registers of the tuba, featuring angular arpeggios and tonguing demands one does not usually associate with the instrument.

Fury II, in form somewhat reminiscent of a minuet with trio, contrasts series of long, arching arpeggiated figures with an amicable waltz marked "gently inebriated."

Fury III is relentless and powerful, exploiting the full dynamic and articulative range of the tuba. Again, the performer is met with virtuoso demands not normally encountered in the tuba literature.

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