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Thread: Commissioning New Music

  1. Commissioning New Music

    Hello everyone,

    I have been amazed at the amount of new music currently being written for the Euphonium but I cannot help but wonder if some pieces push the technical boundaries of range and technique so that they are only ever performed by a small number of players.

    This may just be from my perspective but I often felt as a player growing up in The United Kingdom that there was a massive leap in repertoire with this middle ground not really being covered although I think this is more down to my own perspective than any actual reality especially as accessing music as a younger player could be somewhat problematic.

    I have seen some rather amazing organisations which have grouped together to publish music for our instrument and I wondered if something more universal and permanent existed which allowed a group of individuals to publish and perform music.

    I have really enjoyed commissioning new piece of music but I have always been concerned about their future as pieces of music after their initial performances and with the price of commissioning a new piece of music at quite a significant amount I was wondering if the way forward was to create a more collaborative venture with a group of likeminded individuals to ensure all possible weak points of commissioning new music could be avoided especially cost and ensuring the future success of the music.

    I wond be really interested to read and hear if there are any collaborative ventures currently in existence?

    Many Thanks,

    Micah Dominic Parsons

  2. #2
    I have only commissioned or participated in commissions for very few works. Part of the reason is that the outcome is not predictable. Someone else commissioned a euphonium piece from a composer who would be at the top of my list of those likely to produce something I'd love. As it turns out, I really didn't like the piece. As an aside, what I have tried to do is to bring pieces into play that might not be known. One example is Claude Smith's Rondo for Trumpet, written for Doc Severinsen. I contacted the composer and publisher for permission to do it with the CG Band. After that several other euphonium players did the piece (probably more than trumpet players who did it!); among them were Steve Mead (I believe it was on his first solo CD), Raymond G. Young, and USAF Band soloist Ann Baldwin Hinote. More recently I performed Proto's Capriccio di Niccolo and convinced the composer to publish a euphonium version formally. He did so, and Steve Mead has performed it. Not sure who else might have. Both these are quite difficult, but they have good audience appeal.

    For my own efforts, I spent roughly a year working on an arrangement of Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata. It requires a lot of technique and range, but perhaps an even greater challenge is playing the notes while making good music. Strings do it by default - brass... not always so. Anyway, that was published in 1986. Since then it appeared on some major auditions, like the Washington military bands, and it has then worked its way to a couple high school contest lists! I attribute that to the incredible abilities that younger players developed in the last few decades. So short of writing octave jumps in 64th notes, I'm not sure what would prove to be too hard for some folks to play!

    You make a very good point about joint commissions. There have been several. I think I'll make it a responsibility of mine to report any commissions as I hear of them. There may be other forum members who would like to participate. Thanks for tickling my brain!
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  3. Hello Dave,

    I have to agree with all your points, I have been very lucky to participate and learn from the whole commissioning process and I have to agree that the final result is often unpredictable which is something I learned quite early on which had quite a big impact on the way in which I commissioned new pieces. I have been so lucky to have loved each of the pieces I have commissioned but as I have grown as a musician my taste has become very specific. I have recently started to commission some new pieces (I shall have to drop you a message about this) and they have had very specific stories, idea's and goals which I want the piece of music to achieve even down to the point where I have shared example of sounds, chord strutures and general musical colours which I think would give a starting point for a new commission.

    It has been through this process that I have have really begun to explore the Euphonium Repertoire. We have so many wonderful pieces that never seemed to get played and no matter how much I love new and fresh works, it really does pain me to see pieces not receiving the recognition that they deserve. I would honestly love to see an international body commissioning and promoting new music for our instrument especially considering the prices that some of the bigger works cost to bring to life. I did hear that one recent Concerto for Euphonium cost £20000 to commission which was funded by national bodies here in The United Kingdom, now that is quite a significant sum of money especially when you consider that perhaps this concerto can only really be performed by a few people due to it's orchestration and it's technical demands. I always feel that the creative process is so much more enjoyable when surrounded by like minded people that you can share the process with.

    Thank you so much Dave and I hope we can talk soon.

    Many Thanks,

    Micah Dominic Parsons

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