(Free Improvisation, Avant-Garde, Microtonal) [WEB] Robin Hayward, Kristoffer Lo, Martin Taxt - Microtub - 2011, FLAC (tracks), lossless

In microtub, ideas of microtonal tuba music are put into action by the three improvisors Robin Hayward, Martin Taxt and Kristoffer Lo. A unique timbre is created when the sound of the three tubas merge together. SOFA is proud to present this groundbreaking piece of music. - gubemusic.com
Consisting of three improvising tuba players, microtub explores the potential of group tuba music beyond the standard format of the tuba quartet. With a focus on microtonality and timbral investigation, it draws on both the compositional and improvisational skills of its members to make an intense and memorable music. Robin Hayward: microtonal F tuba / Kristoffer Lo: C tuba / Martin Taxt: C tuba.
The 3-dimensional graphic scores used on the album Star System are subsets of the Hayward Tuning Vine, which arose out of a desire to visualise the harmonic space implicit within the microtonal tuba. Each of the balls represent pitches, and the struts between them musical intervals. In Star System (side A), the musicians orbit once around the star-like structure, revealing the harmonic space implicit within it. In Square Dance (side B), the various squares and rectangles within the score are gradually explored by the musicians, analogous to a slow dance through harmonic space. - tochnit-aleph.com
Robin Hayward developed the first fully microtonal tuba together with the tuba manufacturer B&S in 2009. After exploring the possibilities in just intonation on the regular tuba, he found it necessary to invent a new instrument where all the microtones could be played in a more logical way.
'Microtub... perform works based on Hayward’s tuning vine, a mathematically developed microtonal system which he developed after attempting to visually depict the various harmonics found inside his tuba. However it came about, the music on Star System’s two tracks is quite beautiful. The deep roars of the three carefully tuned instruments purr out long lines of tone that overlay one another, sitting almost like opaque strata above one another until the physicality of human breathing and the gradual shifts in Hayward’s composition introduce a sense of flux. The effect is a delicate yet hefty drone that thickens and thins like massive bellows easing in and out.

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- Richard Pinnell, The Wire, February 2015, from review of LP Star System

Tuba [C], Music By – Kristoffer Lo, Martin Taxt
Tuba [Microtonal F], Music By – Robin Hayward