Description

The Lieksa Brass Festival commissioned me to compose a euphonium concerto for summer 1996. Until then I had been relatively unfamiliar with this instrument.

I had, indeed, heard its splendid sound in various connections and had wondered why it was not used in symphonic and big-band combinations. The wide register and sonority of the euphonium and also its amazing agility were a source of inspiration as I set about the composition.

The Euphonium Concerto is unashamedly melodic music and possibly the most "romantic" of my more extensive works.

I wanted to exploit to the full the songlike, sensuous quality as a vehicle to interpret the minutest nuance. The concerto was composed during the time one anticipates summer and partly also during summer itself. The motifs spring from nostalgic images: open air summer dances, mosquitoes, sunset, the come-hither call of a lone bird, the ominous, gloomy clumps of fir trees...

The first movement is dominated by the fanfaric melody. The motif is in three-four time, although more reminiscent of the tango.

The second movement, Quasi Nocturne, is music of the twilight. The expressive opening harmonies lead into a waltz theme which recurs several times in the movement. However, the nostalgic setting is disrupted by a more dramatic transitional passage.

In the third movement the triplets of the main theme exploit the agility of the euphonium and the extremities of its register. There is interaction between the playfull basic motif and the more profound cadenza-like passage.

This composition would have come to nothing without the cooperation of the soloist. The initial inspiration drew decisively on the "catchy" sound of the euphonium and on musicmaking together.[...]

© Jukka Linkola

1111 1110 02 0, pno, str, euph solo

Works for Soloist(s) and Orchestra

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