Easythrees

Conversations was created as an audio response to the 2023 Darmstadt Summer Course by Lisa Newill-Smith. It consists of narration by Lisa Newill-Smith and a recorded improvisation session with Jack Adler-McKean, Victor Arul, Kevin Free, Sinead Hayes, Joonghyun Lee, and Lisa Newill-Smith. The narration and improvisation session were both recorded by Arthur Mielke.

Conversations: Lisa Newill-Smith

Very little is known of Friedrich Ludwig 'Louis' Hässler's life beyond his work as a violinist in the Fürstlichen Hofkapelle (later known as the 'Loh-Orchester') in Sondershausen where he died in 1876 at the age of 56. His paternal grandparents were the composer Johann Wilhelm Häßler, nephew and student of Johann Christian Kittel (student of J. S. Bach), and the soprano, pianist and conductor Sophia Barbara Häßler, neé Kiel. Among his sons was Karl Amadeus Wilhelm Häßler, composer and choral conductor most notably in Lübeck where he was awarded a professorship in 1905.

During Hässler's tenure in Sondershausen in the 1850s, the orchestra gained renown for performing "neudeutsche Musik" including the tone poems of Franz Liszt and early operas of Richard Wagner, music which made extensive use of the newly developed bass tuba. The instrument Sondershausen is described has having an "excellent representative" in Carl Ziese (a founding member of the orchestra's brass quartet in 1866), perhaps inspiring Hässler to compose such a virtuosic work for the instrument. The piece was likely not published until a considerably time after the composer's death, with versions for tuba, bassoon, double bass or tenor horn accompanied by piano, orchestra or wind ensemble advertised from 1892 onwards. A new critical edition of the score will be available from late 2025.

Tuba (copy of a Moritz-Wieprecht tuba and mouthpiece built by Louis Jake Kline in 2024): Jack Adler-McKean
Piano (built by Ibach in 1923): Jia Lim

Recorded and mixed in Zepernick on 19 July 2025 by Dietrich Petzold (tonus arcus).

For further information on this project, see: www.jackadlermckean.eu/the-history-of-the-tuba

Louis Hässler - Concert, Op. 14

University of Manchester Symphony Orchestra perform Mahler 5 at Liverpool Hope University Oct 2010

Recorded by Ian Percy
Conductor: Mark Heron


Mahler 5 1st Mvt

Mahler 5 2nd Mvt

Mahler 5 3rd Mvt

University of Manchester Symphony Orchestra perform Mahler 5 at Liverpool Hope University

Recorded by Ian Percy
Conductor: Mark Heron


Mahler 5 4th and 5th Mvt

1. Titan
2. Fluid
3. Ruin
4. Aerial
5. Void

Five Matters

dwishart