''Tuba Mirum'' is a concerto for

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

by the Norwegian composer

Marcus Paus Marcus Nicolay Paus (; born 14 October 1979) is a Norwegian composer and one of the most performed contemporary Scandinavian composers. As a classical contemporary composer he is noted as a representative of a reorientation toward tradition, tonal ...

. The work was commissioned by the

Oslo Philharmonic The Oslo Philharmonic (Oslo-Filharmonien) is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 18 ...

and written specifically for the tubist August Schieldrop. It was first performed in 2021 by Schieldrop and the Oslo Philharmonic under their chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä, and the premiere was also broadcast by the Norwegian national broadcaster,

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

. The work has a duration of 20 minutes. The work is described by the Norwegian national encyclopedia ''

Store norske leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' ( no, Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated ''SNL''), is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique vis ...

'' as one of Paus' major works. The work was positively received by Norwegian classical music critics, and NRK's music critic Stein Eide described the work as a key new tuba concerto. Paus said that "all instruments have their pioneers for the development of the instrument, and Schieldrop is one of those musicians who at an early age has begun to feel that the available repertoire has become too narrow. The title refers both to the instrument as a far-reaching miracle in the hands of a virtuoso soloist, but also to sequences from the Catholic death mass "Dies Irae", from which it borrows the title and musical iconography."

References

{{italic title Compositions by Marcus Paus 2021 compositions Tuba concertos Compositions for symphony orchestra Music commissioned by the Oslo Philharmonic