Inferno - Solo for Tuba and Piano

Composer: Jose Flores Tuba: Charles Villarrubia Piano: Patti Wolf "Inferno" for Tuba and Piano portrays fear, one of the six basic elements of the human condition. Influenced by Sofia Gubaidulina's "Lamento" and Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet, this piece features "free" sections, long piano pedal sustains, jarring entrances, irregular gestures, and dissonant harmonies. Many musical ideas were inspired by Gustave Dore's illustrations for Dante Alighieri's "Inferno" such as the inversion of a melody resembling the punishment of reverse baptism. In the Eighth circle, sinners are turned upside down in holes and baptized by fire instead of water. The Tuba and Piano are very much equal partners, often times reacting to each other. The picture that should be painted is witnessing true horror for the first time, something beyond what we could ever comprehend right now.