& BAND
Concerto for Euphonium and Band
i. Son
ii.Mesto
iii.Ritmico
Commissioned by the The Michigan City Municipal Band, Jeffrey Scott Doebler Conductor, for Hiram Diaz, Euphonium Soloist of ‘The President’s Own’ United States Marine Band
Concerto for Euphonium and Band represents a departure from my typical compositional style, which is usually focused on literal symbolisms. Here the music is instead more abstract and absolute.
In three movements the work is a tribute to the musicianship of the commissioned soloist, Hiram Diaz of ‘The President’s Own’ United States Marine Band, and to the aesthetic of the concerto itself as a genre. Each movement is constructed from a musical idea that holds a particular relevance to a hallmark of Hiram’s playing style or artistic identity, or is a hyper-stylization of what I see as typical ‘concerto music’. Each of these perspectives is absorbed and realized in my own compositional language.
The opening movement, Son, is based on a three two clave; a rhythmic device common in popular cuban music. Interplay between the soloist and band is evocative of rituals of courtship in Latin dance. The second movement, Mesto, takes inspiration from the emotional character of the movement of the same name in the Third Symphony of James Barnes. The melody is shaped from vague modalit y, again drawn from the found in Latin American popular music. The third movement, Ritmico, is a rondo-like, concerto finale. As is typical of the genre it is virtuosic and in compound time, but recalls previous material as an apotheosis.
The premiere of Concerto for Euphonium and Band was given by the Valparaiso University Bands and Hiram Diaz, conducted by Jeffrey Scott Doebler, in November 2021. The finalised version was premiered by Benedictine College Wind Ensemble at the Kansas Music Educators Association Conference, 2024
Tom Davoren (January 2024, Lawrence, Kansas
Recording - Hiram Diaz Euphonium Soloist, University of Kansas Wind Ensemble, Paul W. Popiel Conductor, Lied Center of Kansas, February 2022.
Tom Davoren (January 2024, Lawrence, Kansas
Difficulty - Solo 5 / Band 4
Duration - c.15mins
Publisher - Tom Davoren
Instrumentation
Solo Euphonium
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet in Bb 1, 2, 3
Bass Clarinet
Alto Sax 1, 2
Teor Sax
Baritone Sax
Bassoon (Two players, play lower divisi if only one)
Horn
Trumpet 1, 2, 3
Trombone 1, 2, 3
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion 1 - Concert tom-toms, tam-tam, splash cymbal, small suspended cymbal, suspended cymbal, temple blocks, tubular bells,
Percussion 2 - Marimba, xylophone
Percussion 3 - Concert bass drum, suspended cymbal, marimba, vibraphone, tubular bells
E up ho ni um
F l ut e O bo e
C l a r i ne t i n B 1
C l a r i ne t i n B 2
C l a r i ne t i n B 3
Ba s s C l a r i ne t i n B b
A l t o S a x o p ho ne 1
A l t o S a x o p ho ne 2
Te
Ba
Ba s s o o n H o r n i n F
Trum p e t i n B b 1
Trum p e t i n B b 2
Trum p e t i n B b 3
Tro m bo ne 1
Tro m bo ne 2
Tro m bo ne 3
E up ho ni um Tuba
m p