Utah Symphony timpanist to perform world premiere

The Utah Symphony doesn't often have the opportunity of giving the first performance of new works. World premieres are a rarity in Abravanel Hall.

Gabriela Frank's "Three Latin American Dances," premiered (and recorded) by the Utah Symphony last April was the most recent.

Equally rare is seeing the timpanist in the role of soloist. But that's not unique with the Utah Symphony. While audiences are well aware of the timpani's presence in most works they hear during the course of a season, the player is never spotlighted. He remains an anonymous member of the orchestra.

That will change next weekend, however, when the Utah Symphony premieres a new concerto by Dan Welcher written for George Brown, the orchestra's principal timpanist. And needless to say, Brown is more than thrilled to be thrust into the limelight.

"Where do I begin talking about it," Brown said, "especially since I've been living with the project for four years. This is very exciting."

There are relatively few works that have been written for timpani and orchestra. Most have been composed by percussionists, including works by William Kraft, percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1955 to 1981, and by Werner Tharichen, the former timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic.

"I've played the one by Tharichen in a version for timpani and piano," Brown said. "But I'm not excited about any of the (concertos) I know."

Most of these works leave much to be desired, Brown said. "A lot of them are heavy. They're exciting for about a minute, then they become tedious."

That's not the case with Welcher's concerto, however. "This is the most accessible concerto of its kind for the orchestra and audience alike." And it's also pleasing for the soloist. "It explores the various moods the timpani are capable of. Our role in music is to evoke moods and colors. We enjoy that, and Dan's piece shows what the timpani can do."

Welcher has never written a concerto for timpani before. The closest he's come is "Chameleon Music," from 1987, for 10 percussionists, and, from 1991, "Tsunami" for cello, piano and percussion. So, writing the concerto presented the composer with some intriguing problems.

"I was kind of scared to take up the challenge," Welcher said by phone from his office at the University of Texas in Austin, "because there is not enough variety in the instrument itself."

To help him, Welcher came to Salt Lake City last December and spent three days with Brown, boning up on the timpani's musical possibilities. "The most difficult thing was to find out how to write the piece without losing the focus on George," Welcher said.