Concerto for Euphonium-Joseph Horovitz

First a little bit about Joseph Horovitz. He was born in 1926 in Vienna Italy. In 1938 he migrated to England where he studied music at New College, Oxford. He earned his BMus and MA here then went to the Royal College of Music (known today as RNCM) and studied with Gordon Jacob. Where he won the Farrar Prize for two consecutive years. He composed 39 complete works, which range from a soloist with chamber ensemble accompaniment to works for Orchestra, Wind Band,and Brass Band. (information received from chesternovello.com)

 Here is some background on his "Concerto for Euphonium." His concerto for Euphonium was composed in 1972 originally for Euphonium soloist and Brass Band accompaniment. It was commissioned by the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain and premiered by Euphonium Soloist Trevor Groom at the Royal Albert Hall in London. There are technically two editions of the piece, the original that was composed in 1972 and the new edition which was edited in 1991 by Horovitz himself. The only difference between the old and new editions is the tempo. The piece is very rarely played in the original tempi but we are fortunate enough to have video clips of the first two movements at the old tempi (in previous post). The original only included a B-flat treble clef part, but he added a bass clef part to the newer edition. Whats interesting is that the bass clef part is titled "Concerto for Bassoon. It is the same exact concerto, however it is played on bassoon rather than euphonium. Of course, the Bassoon wouldn't be featured with the Brass Band accompaniment, which is why Horovitz also has a version for Euphonium (Bassoon) and Chamber Orchestra.

Finally here are some notes from the composer about each movement (taken from the piano reduction itself)

"Technically, in the first movement, the soloist has to combine clear strong phrases with gentle melismatic meandering, as well as negotiating many acute-angled leaps which justify themselves by the enharmonic changes beneath."

"In the slow movement secure breath control is called for to sustain even flow in the main long melody. This movement also contains the only cadenza element in the work - two pastoral-flavoured passages, which I dedicate to the mysteriously beautiful Border-country."

"The finale opens with a driving, motoric introduction on the trombone-trio with virtuoso timpani punctuation. It is followed by a cheeky rondo theme for the soloist. Repeated quotations of this are elaborated with increasingly intricate variations, as if urged on by the ever more harmonically adventurous quotes from the band, until an unaccompanied whole-tone version of the theme brings the work to a fast close." Joseph Horovitz, 1991