Best band music for euphonium

[DciGuy96]

My all around piece for euphonium is "Trombone King" by King. It is amazing from beginning to end and my all time favorite part is the Trio.

[UCFEuph]

Some of my favorite band music that has good Euphonium parts

Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russell Bennett -That has some pretty awesome Euphonium parts and it also has a solo that's not technically hard but it does require lots of air.

October by Eric Whitacre- One of the most beautiful pieces I've ever played and that solo is absolutely gorgeous when played right.

Danish Folk Music Suite by Percy Grainger transcribed by Joe Kreines- Probably one of the hardest pieces I've ever played (I played the Baritone Horn part) but it has some really nice Euphonium moments in it.

Fingal's Cave Overture by Felix Mendelssohn trans. Frank Winterbottom- One of the hardest pieces I've ever played. The one I see in the excerpt book is in C minor while the one I played was in Bb minor.

Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin (Unknown who transcribed it but it's from the Chappell thing most old band transcriptions are from)- Again another really hard piece but it had some really nice moments and there was even a solo in the second movement and there was a ton of runs that took me a really long time to get down.

[K_Aufderhar]

In terms of original band works, I would say that Lincolnshire Posy (Grainger), Colonial Song (Grainger), Second Suite in F (Holst), George Washington Bicentennial (Sousa), and The Stars and Stripes Forever (Sousa) all have wonderful parts showcasing the euphonium. As far as transcriptions, A Moorside Suite (Holst trans. Jacob), and Festive Overture (Shostakovich trans. Hunsberger) have fantastic euphonium parts.

[AlaskEuph]

I love playing Grainger's Children's March,Iirish Tune of County Derry, Handel In The Strand, I forget the name of the piece, it was a medley of Alford Marches, I think the title is Colonel Bogey On Parade. Other fun pieces are Fingals Cave and the Finale to Tchaikosky Symphony 4. The Holst Suites are the best examples of euphonium parts.

[LD3]

Symphony in C Minor, especially Movement 3. By Ernest Williams. Written for band and not an arrangement of an orchestral piece, so maybe that's why the euphonium part is so juicy... According to Wikipedia, it was the first symphony written by an American strictly for band (don't know if that's right). I got to play it in 1984 as a high school senior in the same concert I gave a solo performance of the HL Clarke Carnival of Venice, the highlight of my musical life still.

[Pnogard]

Has anyone played Give Us This Day by Maslanka? Not exactly a eupho showcase, but it has some haunting melodies in the first movement that euphos get to participate and solo in, at substantial range.

Indeed I have played this, sadly I was the #3 euphonium so I didn't play the solos (it was a huge all-state band) but it was quite enjoyable. The solos were not the most amazing thing, but the part itself was quite nice, very interesting melodies, harmonies. Emotional, fascinating piece.

[highpitch]

The Techili rendition of Shenandoah. Great euph opener.

Carrickfergus for full concert band, Dutch version.

DDG

[Simes]

I love Goff Richards writing for euphonium, whether it is solo or ensemble. Edward Gregson is a master, as are Gilbert Vinter and Eric Ball for traditional brass band parts. The two John Golland Concertos are exquisite. Favourite test pieces obviously include glorious euph parts - Peter Graham's The Essence Of Time, Gregson's Connotations, Philip Wilby's Paganini Variations and Revelation (the duet is utterly sublime), Eric Ball's Resurgam.... the list is huge!

[JasonDonnelly]

A few pieces I've played over the last few years with fun euphonium parts...

Machu Picchu: City in the Sky (Satoshi Yagasawa)- some amazingly cool runs and some nice soaring parts with the horns...near the end there's a really fun scale figure that goes down really fast with the tubas

Pictures at an Exhibition (trans. Merlin Patterson)-the Bydlo solo is sadly a horn tutti, but there's still plenty of great stuff to play...interval jumping in Gnomus...solo in the 2nd promenade...great low brass stuff in Catacombs...all the chromatic figures in Baba Jaga...and of course glorious moments in Great Gate (along with a run from F above the bass staff down to low C below the staff). Not to mention muted parts!

Aspen Jubilee (Ron Nelson)-awesome parts doubled with the tuba that go down below the staff occasionally...and some great counter-melodies with both the woodwinds and the vocalist in the middle.

La Mezquita de Cordoba (Julie Giroux)- there's one particular 16th note lick with the horns that I just love. Also, some of the best use of split parts I've ever seen in euphonium band parts.

[K_Aufderhar]

I completely agree with you JasonDonnelly!

I played Machu Picchu in high school and the euphonium part was wonderful. The unison part with the horns during the climax was always a challenge (I was only a sophomore!). Thank goodness our horn section was stacked, so they nailed it every time. I haven't played Aspen Jubilee, but my high school did it a few years before I got there. I also own the score and am fairly familiar with it. All of the parts are wonderful in that piece! Another Nelson piece that comes to mind with a great (and hard!) euphonium part is Rocky Point Holiday.

If I was to add a piece to this thread that hasn't been mentioned, I would say a great piece with a really good euphonium part is David Gillingham's Heroes, Lost and Fallen (which I also happened to play in high school).

[RickF]

We're preparing for our first concert of the season with an 'all Russian' composer line up. There's a really nice euphonium part for "March in B-flat Major, Op. 99" (Prokofiev, arr. Paul Yoder). It has a nice singing melody over lots of after beats... around 40 seconds. Later that same melody is in unison.

March in B-flat Major, Op. 99 - USCG Band at Midwest Clinic:

[MichaelSchott]

We're preparing for our first concert of the season with an 'all Russian' composer line up. There's a really nice euphonium part for "March in B-flat Major, Op. 99" (Prokofiev, arr. Paul Yoder). It has a nice singing melody over lots of after beats... around 40 seconds. Later that same melody is in unison.

March in B-flat Major, Op. 99 - USCG Band at Midwest Clinic:

Gee, I haven't played that in a very long time. Terrific march. Great to hear it again.

[RickF]

Gee, I haven't played that in a very long time. Terrific march. Great to hear it again.

Agreed!

It was because of this march that Alfred Reed was commissioned to write "Russian Christmas Music". Back in 1944 a concert was aimed at improving American–Soviet relations. They had planned to premier a new Russian piece along with a new American piece. They had planned to premier "March Op. 99" (Prokofiev). They discovered that it had already been performed in the USA. So, Alfred Reed was commissioned to write a new piece. He wrote "Russian Christmas Music" in just 16 days! This piece is still a favorite of many bandsmen.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Christmas_Music

[daviste]

Maslanka and Alfred Reed can write some pretty great euphonium parts. I've played a couple of their pieces, some of which were symphonies, and I was never even remotely disappointed.

[djwpe]

Maslanka and Alfred Reed can write some pretty great euphonium parts. I've played a couple of their pieces, some of which were symphonies, and I was never even remotely disappointed.

David Maslanka definitely wrote (past tense due to his untimely passing last year) great euph parts. Possibly because his son Matthew is a euph player.


Don Winston
(who cares what instrument or mouthpiece I play?)