CLJarvis

Count me in, and I'll go with optimism.

Did you by any chance get these words from Paul Hindemith's Theme and Four Variations? I love that piece! Each variation really transforms the emotional impact of the theme. As for my music, it's probably a mix between Phlegmatic and Melancholic most of the time.

As a euphonium player, you all just made me quite sad. =P Please, if you even have the slightest desire to expand your musical knowledge, go here: "https://protected.ehost.com/euphoniu/articles/2007/hallows/hallows.html", and listen to at least a few minutes of this piece (at the top of the page)! This is one of the most recent large scale works for euphonium solo, and it was premiered by Steven Mead, definitely one of the finest euphonium players in the world. I'm not saying that this is the best piece in the repertoire, but I found it to be very enjoyable and the entire work is up for free download. At least if you listen, you will be able to say that you've heard a professional euphonium player. The second movement is really great, in my opinion. As a solo instrument, the euphonium repertoire has expanded dramatically in recent years. Up until the 1960's, the solo rep. consisted of mostly of show piece, theme and variations type compositions. The first euphonium concerto was written by Joseph Horovitz (highly recommended) in 1972. In British-style brass bands, the euphonium is used as a very soloistic instrument. If you've never heard a good British Brass band, I highly recommend you look for recordings of the Fairey Band or the Black Dyke Mills Band. Notable composers for brass band, as well as solo euphonium, include Philip Sparke, John Golland, and Philip Wilby, just to name a few. Now, getting back to the original poster's topic, in the orchestra I find that the tenor tuba (when it is used) is used mainly as a color or solo instrument. Sure, everyone knows the planets, but Richard Strauss also started suggesting the tenor tuba for his wagner tuba parts in "Ein Heldenleben" and, even more prominently, in "Don Quixote" in which the tenor tuba is used to portray the character of Sancho Panza. Towards the beginning of "Don Quixote", Strauss also achieves a very unique sound by doubling the tenor tuba an octave above the bass tuba. It's definitely something you don't hear in orchestras very often because the horns and trombones just don't have the same effect. In addition to this, Gustav Mahler used the tenor horn prominently in his seventh symphony. In fact, the solo tenor horn is the very first instrument to play major melodic material in the entire symphony. So yeah, that's euphonium at a glance. Professional players are more common than you might think. It's a shame that general awareness of the instrument is still as low as it is. Euphoniumists are very willing to play new pieces written for their instrument, so one would think that composers would be more eager to write for the instrument. *Hint, hint* Adam Frey has even started a commission consortium project on his website, euphonium.com. Hmm... maybe I should have just started a new thread. Oh well. Edit: Wow, a three year old thread. Nice.

You may enjoy Bartok. His use of counterpoint might remind you of Bach, except with a very different tonal vocabulary.

I'll join in.