CD PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: STEWART

Performers: M. Dee Stewart - Bass Trumpet, Tenor Tuba, Alto Trombone, Tenor Trombone and Bass Trombone Marta Erdei - Piano

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) composed Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874 as a tribute to his friend Victor Hartmann who died a year earlier. The work represents drawings of Hartmann’s that had been displayed in Moscow at a commemorative exhibition.

Pictures at an Exhibition was a showcase for the Philadelphia Orchestra for much of the twentieth century, being featured on many of the orchestra’s foreign tours. It showed off the tonal tapestries of Eugene Ormandy’s ensemble and enabled the orchestra to make great music in the process. As a professor at Indiana University, Mr. Stewart was often asked to demonstrate musical examples from his Philadelphia days. He performed the Bydlo solo for tenor tuba on many recitals and his arrangements for the other movements for piano and the various low brass instruments followed until he eventually began performing the whole piece.

This enhanced CD not only features the music but also a video of some of the recording/editing process.

1. Dee Stewart is a professor of trombones and euphonium at the Indiana University School of Music. Stewart joined the faculty in 1980 after an 18-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Extensive teaching in the Philadelphia area included ten years on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. Two degrees in music education from Ball State University and Northwestern University and the tutelage of Arnold Jacobs give Stewart a unique musical and pedagogical perspective.

In demand as a recitalist, clinician, and orchestral musician worldwide, he has performed on special occasions with the Summit Brass, and with orchestras including San Francisco, Honolulu, Minnesota, Phoenix, San Antonio, Tucson, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis and New York. He has also appeared as featured soloist at the International Trombone Festival and the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference. Marta Erdei received her Artist Diploma in piano performance from Indiana University. She is currently teaching at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Ireland.

Mussorgsky - Pictures At An Exhibition
M. Dee Stewart -
Bass Trumpet, Tenor Tuba Alto Trombone, Tenor Trombone, and Bass Trombone
Marta Erdei -
Piano