Concerto for Euphonium "Swimming the Mountain"-Allan Feinstein

Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra:  Swimming the Mountain.- Allan Feinstein.

Allan Feinstein is a composer and conductor of film music, classical music, and musical theater.  He has been Director of Bands at Northeastern University since 1990.

This piece was dedicated to and commissioned by Adam Frey and was premiered in December 2004, at Northeastern University.  The inspiration for this piece comes from an ancient Greek poem by Archilochus.  The poem is a response to a total eclipse of the sun.  In it, the poet reflects that if Zeus can darken the skies, then anything is possible.  The poem was an inspiration to other poets who wrote about the theme of possibility and impossibility.  The poem goes as follows:

We'll hope for everything, refuse no thing;
We dare you to astonish us, now Zeus
has hid the daytime brilliance of the sun, 
has made night out of noon: a dreadful awe
has come to us.  Impossibility 
turns possible, and credible, and true.
Don't wonder now,  if any of you sees 
the beasts on land adopt the watery ways 
of dolphins, and the thundering sea become 
more dear to them than drier pastures were.   
The dolphins, then, will seek the mountain glen

--translation by Robin Orttung.


Feinstein got the idea for the concerto from Daniel Feinstein, who I believe is his son.  One day he began chanting "swimming the mountain, swimming the mountain, swimming the mountain..." for no apparent reason.  When the phrase was repeated to 2 classics scholars they pointed out the reference to dolphins swimming in the mountains in the ancient Greek Poem and the theme of possibility vs. impossibility. 


The concerto is in three movements.  The first is titled Zeus, Feinstein describes "The Euphonium is Zeus, surveying, enjoying, and commanding his realm."  It is very easy to hear the film music influences of Feinstein in this movement.  It starts with a soft introduction from the orchestra then the Euphonium enters with a short cadenza in the style of a fanfare.  Then the theme enters and is developed throughout the movement.  The first movement alone presents many technical challenges.  including an extensive range of pedal B-flat to a high E-natural.  there are also many fast triplet/sextuplet 16th note runs that require patient practicing in order to perfect them.  The ending of this movement has a  poly tempo feel with the orchestra holding a consistent tempo while the soloist is in a free cadenza-like repetition of the original fanfare.  The piece concludes with a triple forte arpeggiation down to a pedal B-flat in sync with the timpani.

The second movement is titled Eclipse.  "The second movement depicts the eclipse, the emergence of stars in the darkness, and then the return of the sun," as Feinstein describes.  The movement starts off giving the listener a "lost" feeling.  This really helps convey the darkness of the eclipse.  after about 25 measures, there's a key change and a notable texture change in the orchestra.  Then the muted soloist has accented eighth notes to symbolize "the emergence of the stars."  then the orchestra adopts this idea while the soloist has a very beautiful, open melody.  This lets the listener sit in the moment of the stars before the sun comes out again.  There is another key change and dramatic dynamic change to signify the return of the sun.  The soloist has a legato eighth note melody on top of a majestic accompaniment from the orchestra.  The movement then ends with a quiet abbreviated restatement of the original theme from the beginning "darkness."

The third movement is titled Realm of Possibility.  Feinstein says in his notes "The third movement playfully explores musical possibilities and impossibilities, featuring interactions between the euphonium and the piccolo, timpani, and violin."  This movement arguably requires the most finger dexterity out of the three.  The movement in itself is very chromatic, with multiple sextuplet 16th runs over two and a half octaves and it also includes some arpeggiated patterns in chromatic sequence.  Needless to say, this movement needs a lot of time put into it.  The first interaction with the orchestra begins in measure 43 with the piccolo starting a descending chromatic arpeggio sequence then the soloist finishes the idea.  The interaction with the timpani begins at measure 133 with a typical timpani motive and the soloist is to copy the style as best they can with the pitches written.  The interaction with the violin begins in measure 195 with the same idea that the piccolo started and then the violin takes on the third theme of the piece.  This interaction is much more fun and is written as a sort of competition between the violin and soloist.  The first "test" is a series of quick grace notes.  For the second "test" the violin is in the extreme high range of the instrument that the euphonium could not possibly reach.  In response the soloist has the theme in the pedal range of the instrument.  For the third "test" the violin uses double stops, in response the euphonium is asked to use multiphonics.  This section really does push the realm of possibility for the euphonium and it will require a lot of practicing to coordinate.  This movement ends starting with a quote from the first movements opening fanfare, although the note values are lengthened quite a bit.  Then it concludes the entire concerto with the recurring legato theme followed by a quick flourish to a high C.

The entire concerto is meant to be performed without breaks between the movements.  This makes performing the piece a little difficult because unlike most concertos, performing just one movement of the piece will likely leave the audience confused.  In order for the concerto to make sense to the text put with it, the soloist should only perform the work if they are able to perform all three movements.  This way the listeners are able to relate what they hear in each movement to the text they see in their programs.

Unfortunately there are no recordings available on YouTube, however Adam Frey does have a recording available for purchase on iTunes on his album "Taking Flight."  I highly recommend giving this piece a listen, it is really an excellent addition to the euphonium repertoire.