Tuesdays on the Tube: Michael Mulcahy

Whenever you can find a live recording of an exceptional musician performing an alto trombone concerto with a top-five orchestra, you take notice. Today’s highlight is Michael Mulcahy, Second Trombone of the world famed Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In addition to playing with the CSO since 1989, Mulcahy is also the Professor of Trombone at the highly-esteemed Northwestern University. Many of his students have gone on to very successful careers, holding positions with many major orchestras, including Boston, San Francisco, and Berlin Philharmonic.

In 1999, my father took my brother and me to a Chicago Symphony performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto and his Tenth Symphony. There I was able to hear the famed brass section live for the first time. As I flipped through their brochures for the next season, I came across the weekend where Michael Mulcahy was to perform Leopold Mozart’s Concerto for Alto Trombone and Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim as conductor. I was ecstatic! A major orchestra was going to play an alto trombone concerto! Unfortunately, I was not able to attend that performance, and it was a decade later or so when I stumbled across these Youtube recordings of that performance. As many trombone players know, the alto trombone is not an instrument that can be mastered quickly. One has to have a firm grasp on the concept of sound for the instrument as well as the style written for the instrument. Both of the qualities are clearly exemplified in this two-video performance of Leopold Mozart’s Alto Trombone Concerto. Mulcahy’s effortless playing of this baroque concerto should be listened by all students, both young and old.

Please watch the beginning of Part 1 as well as all of both videos.

Cheers and Vinyl!

Part 1

Part 2