Contemporary Repertoire for Euphonium
Compiled by Jennifer Jester

Development of the euphonium repertoire remained rather stagnant throughout the first half of the 20th century, but since 1970 there has been a great increase in interest and a higher public profile. While aspects of the euphonium are advancing at an exciting rate, there is still a long way to go in achieving full recognition of the instrument's potential. In addition to the lack of repertoire for this instrument, much of the repertoire for the instrument was a transcription of pieces written for another similar instrument such as trumpet, cello, trombone or bass trombone. Contemporary repertoire for this instrument is increasingly growing, but at slow pace leading down the road of more traditional music that isn't as demanding to the listeners as some of its more contemporary counterparts. In most of this list, some of the pieces may not be considered to be ultra "groundbreaking" when compared to other instrumental repertoire, but I feel these are the most notable as far as the quality of contemporary writing is concerned, as well as the use of extended techniques both on the horn and with multimedia.

THE 60's

• Samuel Adler, "Four Dialogues for Euphonium and Marimba (1969), Carl Fischer
• Difficulty	Very Difficult
• Duration	8 Minutes
• Tessitura	Low: C High: c2
• Medium	Euphonium and Marimba

"Four Dialogues" is an eclectic and intriguing work which combines two of the richest-sounding instruments in music. The melodic line is considered in some circles to be a bit esoteric, and there are many time signature changes. The piece requires a well-developed lower range, good octave flexibility, and strong rhythmic accuracy. This piece was considered at the time (and still considered) to be a difficult piece for both the euphonium and the marimba, and perhaps could be considered to be one of our ground breaking pieces as far as challenging 20th century music is concerned.

• Eugene Bozza, "New Orléans" (1962), Leduc

"New Orléans" was originally written for French bass trombonist Paul Bernard. The piece has three clearly defined sections and contains many of the characteristic motifs of Bozza. Although Bozza came from a straightforward classical background, the influence of the jazz style is unmistakable, and the imagery of the emotional extremes of New Orleans are vividly evoked by the music. This piece is a staple in the bass trombone solo literature and also can be used as a euphonium solo. In addition to the jazz style, the through-composed compositional style of the piece allows for a wide degree of interpretation, especially in the opening cadenza.

THE 70's

• Gordon Jacob, "Fantasia" (1973), Boosey & Hawkes

The "Fantasia" is considered to be one or our classics in contemporary literature for euphonium. It is a piece that has a beautiful lyric quality throughout, yet is constructed on an angular, contemporary sounding theme. Written for Michael Mamminga in 1973, the solo comes in two versions, one for piano, and one for band. When played up to tempo, the piece requires great control and ease of flexibility in the cadenzas and in some of the faster passages. Because of its accessibility, it is a great piece to use for circumstances when audiences aren't completely versed in contemporary music.

• John Boda, "Sonatina for Euphonium and Synthesizer" (1978)
• Publisher	Cimarron Music
• Duration	9:30
• Tessitura	Low: E High: b1
• Medium	Euphonium and Synthesizer (Taped)/or Piano
• Notes	Comes with CD

This is an interesting work which was created during the prevalent trend of electronic music at the time it was composed. While not technically very difficult, it requires strong listening skills, as it is sometimes difficult to follow the taped synthesizer. The work is in one continuous movement, and the performer relies heavily on aural cues on when to come in. From different sources I have found, it is important to get a good tape of the synthesizer part for use during performance.

Boda also transcribed the synthesizer part for piano. The most difficult thing about this work is the timing of cues between soloist and tape (a concern that is eliminated by the piano version). Much rehearsal time with the tape is needed in order to pull off a satisfactory performance. The synthesizer accompaniment uses interesting synthesized and programmed music that sounds similar to percussion instruments. Several tempos are used, but other than the use of tape, it is fairly tonal piece.

• Donald White - "Lyric Suite" (1972), Schirmer

One of the staples of the euphonium literature, "Lyric Suite" is a well written and advanced piece. The themes throughout the piece make use of superimposed 3rds and "Hindemithian" 4ths, both melodically and harmonically. The range is from E to b', but difficulty in coordinating the accompaniment with the solo part proves to be the time consuming quality of this piece. I would consider this piece groundbreaking, because it is often one of the first contemporary pieces euphonium students play and allows a player to become more familiar with more unfamiliar dissonances and contemporary writing.

The first movement is marked "Adagio Cantabile" with a slower section in the middle. The second movement, "Allegro Giusto", is the most difficult to put together with the accompaniment, due to trying licks in both parts and polyrhythms halfway through the movement. Movement four, "Allegro Energico", gathers all \ of the ideas of the previous movements for a final dash to the end.

THE 80's

• Jan Bach, "Concert Variations" (1983), Tuba-Euphonium Press

This piece was commissioned by TUBA Society during summer of 1977, premiered in LA June 15, 1978 by Brian Bowman at the TUBA conference. It has been analyzed in great detail in Kenneth Shrum's doctoral dissertation "An Analytical Commentary on the Euphonium and Tuba Music of Jan Bach. Since its initial performance, work has attained, by general consensus, the status of a "classic" among works for this combination of instruments. It draws upon almost every feature and highlight available to the euphonium as far as extended techniques are concerned and makes some interesting music along the way.

The piece is a set of variations on an original theme stated at the outset by the euphonium; each variation is based on a different performance technique of the instrument, including quarter-tones, trills, alternate fingerings, lip trills, valve glissandi and multiphonics. Some variations are based on the entire theme, some on characteristic fragments of the theme. The last variation is a fugue whose subject is an ornamented version of the entire opening theme.

• James Curnow, Symphonic Variants (1984), Tuba-Euphonium Press

This piece is very popular as a concert piece, a competition piece, and a welcome addition to the repertoire of contemporary euphonium music. It uses a theme in a more contemporary tonality using clusters, angular intervals, but keeps the theme close by throughout the entire three movements. The theme consists of three notes, but the composer has a way of using the entire range and capabilities of the euphonium while maintaining the beauty of the instrument. It is a favorite piece used for performers that wish to play a more advanced contemporary sounding piece of the latter half of the 20th century. It is still widely used as a competition piece. Key areas of difficulty include a high "D" in the opening movement, and a couple of times where multiphonics are used.

• Neal Corwell, Night Song (1989), Nicolai Music

Neal Corwell is a composer and performer in the euphonium world that has carved his "niche" in the area of euphonium and prerecorded playback. He is really the pioneer of this kind of music and continues to expand the euphonium repertoire with these types of pieces. I consider his music groundbreaking because it involves a type of "sound" using electronics that hasn't really been fully explored.

I thought it would be useful to include the composer's notes for this piece: "As a brass musician with a fascination for both synthesizers and composition, it was only natural that one day I would decide to combine these three musical loves. Night Song, a piece for solo euphonium accompanied by a pre-recorded synthesizer tape, was my first effort in this genre. Unlike many pieces for solo instrument with synthesizer, the music is tonal, and the synthesizer is NOT used merely as a source of bizarre sound effects. Instead, analog and digital synthesis techniques are utilized as a means of expanding the timbral palette available to the composer in support of the featured instrument. Night Song was premiered in 1989."

THE 90's

• Vladimir Cosma, "Euphonium Concerto" (1997), Just

Vladimir Cosma is a Romanian born composer who studied in Romania as well as in Paris under guidance of the great composer Nadia Boulanger. His Euphonium Concerto was written for the 1997 World Euphonium Competition held in Guebwiller, France. While the material for this solo itself isn't groundbreaking as far as tonality and themes go, I feel like it is a great work to include because of who wrote it. This piece is one of the very few pieces of the euphonium repertoire that was written by a notable composer. Cosma is primarily known for his film scores in Europe, but had this commission for a well known competition.

"Concerto" is by far one of the most difficult solo works to date, yet has a playful Spanish style motif that makes it accessible sounding for both the player and the audience. It is packed full of difficult passages for the soloist, and the trick is to make the piece sound easy while flying around the instrument.

• Philip Wilby, "Improvisations in a Japanese Garden, 3" (1997), Philip Wilby

I first learned of this piece about 10 years ago from the great euphonium soloist Steven Mead who sent me a bunch of music he thought I might benefit from playing. This solo had an unusual tape accompaniment, and an almost cryptic score. I considered it to be iconic, because it is one of the few - if not only more abstract tape pieces for the euphonium that I've found.

• David Gillingham, Blue Lake Fantasies (1999), Tuba-Euphonium Press

I believe this piece to be an iconic work due to its difficulty, use of multiphonics and jazz in a setting for solo unaccompanied euphonium. The piece itself is tonal, yet pushes the performer in directions that many works do not. It consists of five movements that are programmatic depictions of a location called the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Blue Lake, Michigan. To date, this is the only piece I know of its kind.

• Roland Szentpali, Pearl Suite (1999)

This is a piece originally written for tuba, but the composer has created a version for euphonium. The work has three distinct movements: Ducati, My One and Only Love, Susi. The first movement has a slight rock and funk feel to it, while the second is a lovely melody. The final movement uses elements from the tango. It is the fist piece I know to deliberately use classical euphonium type virtuosity combined with funk and rock. I feel like Szentpali is an interesting and innovative young composer and so far he has contributed several unique pieces to the euphonium and tuba repertoire.

• Martin Ellerby, Euphonium Concerto

I feel like this is a representation of one of THE most challenging works in the repertoire and is iconic due to its extreme difficulty and virtuosity. The Ellerby Euphonium Concerto can be summed up as an exploration in the technical limits of euphonium in regards to range, dexterity, and endurance. Attention to detail is must in all movements as Ellerby clearly marks articulation and dynamic nuances. The Fantasy features the alternation of an energetic rising theme, sometimes slurred and sometimes tongued, with a beautiful melodic section.

The Capriccio is the most demanding technically and rhythmically. One of the great moments of the work occurs as the 12/8 theme shifts from triplet to duple subdivisions. The writing can be described as melodic and motivic with a very wide palette of harmonic and melodic colors in an angular style. The chromatic appearance does not translate to chromatic sounding harmony. A muted section occurs in the middle of the second movement.

The Rhapsody (for Luis) hosts one of the best examples of lyrical euphonium writing. Dedicated to Luis Maldanado, this movement's buildup and climax leading to a d" remains one of the most memorable moments in the euphoniums repertoire. The writing and interplay between soloist and ensemble makes this movement a joy to perform and the final repeated d's in the solo line pays homage to another great lyrical euphonium concerto by Horovitz.

Diversions could be concluded as approximately five minutes of pure, intense rhythmic drive. From its opening accompaniment figure played by the band that sets the pace, this movement places large technical demands on the soloist including rapid tonguing, optional multi-phonics, highly articulated figures in extreme ranges, traversing more than two octaves in a single bar and ending with glissandi up to e-flat". One of the masterpieces of the euphonium repertoire, this concerto will require lots of practice and strength. The ensemble parts are very difficult and a good conductor will be needed. Alternate fingerings will make the solo part clearer and easier.

THE 00's

• Sam Pilafian, "Relentless Grooves: Armenia" and "Relentless Grooves: Cuba" - for tape and instrument (2001), Manu

Written by my teacher Sam Pilafian, this piece was created during the time I was studying with him at Arizona State. It can be played by tuba, euphonium, or any low brass instrument. It has an accompaniment consisting of different rhythmic grooves from other countries created in a recording studio with mostly overlaying percussion tracks. Using different elements of countries such as Armenia and Cuba, the piece was ground breaking in that it uses elements of jazz and world music within the realms of a solo piece for concert stage.

I think it is an example of an iconic work because it pushes the boundaries of our repertoire in world music. It allows the player to explore the world of not only these rhythms, but the world of rhythm in general. When I was studying with Sam, rhythm was an incredibly important part of my education. An example would be the Wednesday "Rhythm class" that we had where the entire tuba studio would pile into his office and sit in a circle with shakers, empty 5 gallon water jugs, and sit and have a rhythm jam for an hour. I believe this piece was born out of Sam's dedication to rhythm and his gentle but impacting demand for his students to have "great rhythm."

• Nora Hoffmann, "The Clown"

This piece was commissioned in 2004 by me is a piece that would be the truly avant garde piece I've seen for the euphonium. There is a taped accompaniment that I play along with and several places for free improvisation integrated with text that the player says to the audience. When I talked to the composer, she thinks theatrical elements are great and wants them, but the piece has very little instruction in this area and everything from the theater, the type of voice used to speak the text, and even the music itself, is open to interpretation and creativity of the performer.

• Leoš Janáček, "Sinfonietta"

A piece written for a small chamber ensemble, this is one of the euphonium's truly great contemporary chamber pieces. Janáček seems to favor the euphonium in several of his pieces, but this one is the most outstanding use of the instrument. Janáček uses the euphonium as both a solo instrument as well as an accompaniment to the other instruments either through a harmony part or a bass line. It is an iconic work due to its creation by a well known composer who really knew how to write for the instrument, as well as its contemporary tonalities and structure.

• Martin Kennedy, "Theme and Variations for Trombone"

This is a piece originally written for trombone that "fits" better on the euphonium. Kennedy has written several extremely difficult passages requiring a lot of technique and rhythmical accuracy with the piano. This piece was written in 2002 and is slowly making its way into the repertoire of players, but isn't widely known at the moment. It is iconic in the way it was written as ultra - contemporary music with difficult tonalities with a tinge of neo - classicism in the format of theme and variations and some of the tempos. It is definitely a piece that the audience may not understand at first pass, but the benefits of performing it and getting inside of the complexity of rhythm that Kennedy writes is worth the effort.

Works Not Included:
(due to score unavailability)

John Golland, Concertos No. 1, and 2

Pete Meechan, Electric Reality

Alfred Reed, Seascape

George Heussenstamm, Alter Ego (1978)

Los Angeles Composer: Euphonium plays through a duet choosing one part at a time and going between two staves, repeating everything again playing everything that was not played the 1st time, then going back and playing with tape.

John Stevens, Soliloquies (2000)

Henry Cowell, Tom Binkley's tune: for Baritone solo and Piano (1947)