Listen to Cascades
Excerpt
(C.R. MP3, 2 MB, 2:25)

Instrumentation: Euphonium solo
Violins 1
Violins 2
Violas
Cellos
Double Basses

Total Timing: 13:00

Mvmt. 1 Timing: 5:00
Mvmt. 2 Timing: 4:15
Mvmt. 3 Timing: 3:45

Daydream on a Thanksgiving Chorale — a sort of fantasia on a hymn tune — introduces the Euphonium Concerto. The opening chorale, stated by the strings, concludes with the violas commencing the first "variation" — a canon in 5/8 time. This brief canon rises until it resolves on a C-Major chord, and the entrance of the euphonium. The canonic material is reworked and reprised over the next few pages — the euphonium offers a brief cadenza — and then the second "variation" is presented. This slower and somewhat pensive section is succeeded by brisk and sunny "strolling music." The canon returns — in variation — and the music grows increasingly virtuosic until the movement concludes with a reminder of the chorale tune. The daydream vanishes.

In A Song from the Seashore the undulating primary theme — played by the strings alone — precedes a "medieval" exchange between the euphonium and strings, then a more virtuosic episode for the euphonium. The movement is then reversed: the modal B Section returns, followed by a variation on the primary theme — the euphonium joining in before the conclusion.

Following a cadenza-like introduction, the driving primary theme of Cascades is introduced by the euphonium. This theme is quickly developed until a little fugue blooms. This fugue subject-and-answer resolves into a waltz-like episode, which is in turn succeeded by a jaunty skip. The fugue subject appears once more, followed by a revisitation of the theme, leading to a rousing conclusion.

Bassoonists also have my blessing to perform this concerto.