Concerto for Euphonium-Jukka Linkola

First a little bit about Jukka Linkola.  He is a Finnish pianist and was born in 1955.  He studied at the Sibelius Academy and worked as a rehearsal pianist in the Helsinki City Theater where he also worked as a conductor.  Jazz has always been an important influence in Linkola's playing and compositions.  However, he composes a lot of stage music, operas, and music for plays and movies.  He also does a lot of work for symphonies, chamber orchestras, and big jazz orchestras and often will use soloists with his compositions.

His Euphonium Concerto was composed in 1995, making it a very contemporary 20th century work for the Euphonium.  It is by far one of the most difficult works in the Euphonium Repertoire.  The main challenge about this piece for any player is simply the endurance required to play the entire work.  The Concerto with all three movements totals to just shy of 30 minutes in length, and there isn't an "easy" movement in between the more technical movements.  Besides endurance this piece requires a very extensive range.  The final notes in the third movement are double pedal E-flats accented at fortissimo and the highest notes are in the second movement soaring to a high F.  This means that theres a range of 4 octaves plus a ninth throughout the entire concerto.  This piece has a somewhat a-tonal feel to it, to me it seems like Linkola plays with the tonality especially in the first two movements, with the second being more stable than the first.  This creates a technical challenge in that you really have to focus on the accidentals....did I mention that the publishers only supply you with a B-flat Treble clef part?

The first movement is titled with the tempo marking Agitato.  It contains great driving rhythms, some almost fanfare-like, and his jazz influence peaks through the music at times.  The movement also seems to go through different characters in the music.  Sometimes the music is very confident with loud, driving, syncopated sections; other times it is dark and lyrical.  During the cadenza the music just seems lost, like its searching for the conclusion.

The second movement is titled with the tempo marking Quasi Nocturne.  It starts off with just piano in contrasting styles, from lyrical to something a bit bouncier, then moves onto a dark low register theme.  The Euphonium comes in with a beautiful melody that soars to an apex of a high F.  The cadenza material has the same "lost" feeling as the first movement, then the movement concludes with a low register long tone.

The third movement is titled Maestoso, Energico.  As you may have guessed this movement is very energetic.  With driving triplet eighth notes in the left hand piano and syncopation, the Euphonium is given fast, and very technical passages.  This movement combines many complex rhythms, including quintuplets, sextuplets, and an occasional septuplet; and they are all very fast and require specific articulation.  There are also many chromatic sextuplet sixteenth note runs that will require a lot of shedding.

This piece requires a lot of work but it is incredibly enjoyable for the performer if they are willing to put the appropriate amount of time into it.