Steven Mead

Title	Composer	PDF	Brass Band	Wind Band	Piano	Duration
NEW Andante Cantabile	Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky	sample - TC	£ 31.50	£ 45.75	£ 8.40	7.00
NEW Concerto for Violone	Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi	sample - TC	£ 77.40	£ 91.50	£ 16.50	15.00
NEW Grand Aïr de Zaïr	Saverio Mercadente	sample - TC	£ 49.00	£ 63.40	£ 10.50	5.30
NEW Grande Fantaisie Dramatique	Jules Demersseman	sample - TC	£ 56.30	£ 70.00	£ 14.00	8.05
NEW Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso	Camille Saint-Saëns	sample - TC	£ 63.30	£ 77.40	£ 16.50	9.04
Introduction and Tarantella	Pablo de Sarasate	sample - BC sample - TC	£ 26.00	£ 40.15	£ 7.00	5.40
Lucy Long	Fred Godfrey	sample - BC sample - TC	£ 26.00	£ 40.15	£ 7.00	6.10
The Playful Pachyderm	Gilbert Vinter	sample page	£ 26.00			6.40
Pokarekare Ana	Paraira H.Tomoana	sample page	£ 17.60	£ 24.60	£ 4.20	4.05
NEW Six studies in English Folksong	Ralph Vaughan Williams	sample - TC	£ 49.00	£ 63.30	£ 10.50	7.45

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Grand Air de Zaïr is an eight minute recitative and aria from Saverio Mercadente's opera 'Zaïra'. In the 18th century when Italian opera dominated Europe we find the 30 year old Mercadente leaving Italy in 1826 to try his fortunes in Spain and Portugal. He composed seven operas there before returning to Italy in 1831. In 1830 he composed a new work for Naples, the opera Zaïra based on one of Voltaire's finest tragedies. The theme is the conflicting claims of religion and love, for Zaïra is torn between the allegiance she owes to the Christian faith in which she was born and the love she feels for Sultan Orosmane. All the bel canto, lyrical phrases and cadenzas are present in this Italian virtuoso show piece in a style that could be compared as a mix between Rossini's 'Una voce poco fa' and 'Largo al Factotum'. Difficulty rating 4 (1-6)

Grande Fantaisie Dramatique - Jules Demersseman
When Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) went to Paris he first worked on his famous saxhorns from 1842 till 1854. He not only invented this famous family of conical bore brass instruments but he also commercialised them and asked his friends musicians and composers at the Paris Conservatory to compose some original works for the new saxhorns.

Jules Demersseman (1833-1866) was born in Hondschoote (in the North of France on the Belgian border) and was at that time a virtuoso flautist and composer. He entered the Paris Conservatory when 11 years old and he obtained his first prize for flute a year later ! As a composer he is, because of his early death, almost complete forgotten and briefly remembered through the works he composed for Adolphe Sax 'Trombone with Six Independent Valves'. The musical style of his 'Grande Fantaisie Dramatique' is written for the taste of the Parisian public of that period. As well as in his easy exam pieces, his most brilliant fantasies sought to charm the fashionable light music fans. His Grande Fantasie Dramatique is a unique example of this theme and variations style (made more famous by J.B. Arban later on) where the euphonium soloist could show of his technical and musical possibilities. The influence of French opera is ever present with disguised arias and recitatives that give this fantasy its dramatic character.Difficulty rating 4/5 (1-6)

Andante Cantabile - Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky's 'Andante Cantabile' is one of the most famous and inspiring romantic movements. Is was either the singing of a workman or baker - there are two versions of the story - that introduced Tchaikovsky to the folk melody that he immortalized in his slow movement of his String Quartet nr 1, opus 11, composed in 1871. Clearly he was not put off by the tune's unromantic words, 'Vanya sat on the divan and smoked a pipe of tobacco'. An immediate hit, the movement was quickly extracted from the quartet and published in numerous arrangements through which it became one of Tchaikovsky's most famous short works. It didn't only inspire Johan De Meij for a fantastic and extreme make-over (see recent brass band test-piece!) , Tchaikovsky himself made an arrangement for cello and string orchestra sometime between 1886 and 1888 for cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen (1848-1890) who premiered the Rococo Variations in 1877. Difficulty rating 3 (1-6)

Six Studies in English Folk Song - Ralph Vaughan Williams
By the time Ralph Vaughan Williams had created his Six Studies in English Folk-Song in 1926 he had been travelling around the country collecting English folk songs for a quarter of a century. Along with Cecil Sharp, he preserved for posterity many examples of this great English musical tradition. These small studies are jewels and were originally written for the cellist May Mukle, who gave first performance at the Scala Theatre in London on 4 June 1926. The touching lyricism of these short and beautiful studies, so fresh and loving, are perhaps an off-shoot of his preoccupation with some of the best folk songs in his opera Sir John in Love (1929). These slight but attractive pieces are not literal transcriptions of folk-melodies, but are based on well-known tunes, freely treated and ornamented, whose identity can be easily traced. The first study is a setting of the Norfolk tune Lovely on the Water , in which the tune emerges naturally from the accompaniment , well suited to the lyrical qualities of the euphonium. Spurn Point is a fine tribute to this unique place with sand and shingle banks in the Britsh Islands on the Yorkshire coast. Van Dieman's Land is another fine slow melody and the original name used by Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Lady and the Dragoon is another tune in a slow tempo. In the fourth study 'She borrowed some of her mother's gold', the arpeggio accompaniment rocks gently back and forth, occasionally acting as a kind of descant for the euphonium. The last of the set, As I walked over London bridge ('Geordie') is a 'rum-ti-tum' affair with its air of innocent jollity, its varied accompanying texture, and its surprising ending, is so terse that one regrets the composer did not treat the tune more expansively. But then perhaps the succinct wit of the setting would have been lost. Difficulty rating 2-3 (1-6)

Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso - Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, opus 28 is his first work for violin written in 1863. Since its premiere it has continued to be one of Saint-Saëns most popular compositions and has been performed by notable virtuosi including Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern and Maxim Vengerov. In the 1850s, Saint-Saëns became acquainted with a fellow musical prodigy, the Spanish violinist Pablo Sarasate (1844-1908). Sarasate was 19 when Saint-Saëns wrote the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for him in 1863, and the technical challenges of the work attest to the violinist's prowess. Saint-Saëns did not publish the piece until 1870, but Sarasate frequently programmed it in his concert engagements throughout Europe and the United States. The slow introduction, marked Andante malinconico (melancholy), becomes gradually more animated and ends in a mini-cadenza that opens the rondo, Allegro ma non troppo. The syncopated theme stated by the violin has a distinct Spanish flavour with some idiomatic Spanish rhythms and featuring huge leaps and brilliant arpeggios. The orchestra opens the bridge to a contrasting lyrical theme, con morbidezza (with tenderness), played in 2/4 by the soloist over the 6/8 time of the accompaniment. Even the rondo theme reappears in a more introspective mood, before the orchestra bursts once more into the bridge passage. After the final statement of the rondo the violin moves from a short cadenza of triple-stopping to a brilliant coda, undoubtedly written as a showcase for Sarasate's virtuosity. This work was popular enough that both Georges Bizet and Claude Debussy made arrangements of it. This version for euphonium is undoubtedly affected by the playing of Sergei Nakariakov of this classical showpiece. At first glance the violin part seems impossible for a few valves. The adjustments make some valuable hours of study for both technique and musicianship and in the end this version sounds as if originally conceived for the euphonium. Difficulty rating 6 (1-6)

Concerto for Violone (Double Bass) - Giuseppi Antonio Capuzzi
Giuseppe Antonio Capuzzi (1755-1818) studied violin with Nazari, a pupil of Tartini and composition with Bertoni. He was active in Venice as a performer in theatres and in St.Mark's. In 1796 he visited London and in 1805 he settles in Bergamo where he was active as violinist and professor of violin at the Istituto Musicale. He was highly regarded both as teacher and performer and was equally proficient as a composer.The autograph manuscript of his 'Concerto per il Violone' has been found in the British Museum and transcribed for double bass in 1969 by Rodney Slatford. Already in 1967 the late Philip Catelinet transcribed the 'Andante and Rondo' for lower brass instruments which became a popular exam piece for lower brass instruments. Luc Vertommen based his transcription for euphonium (or baritone/trombone or Eb/Bb bass) on the original concerto for 'violone'. The term 'violone' is known as early as 1520 and means in modern terminology the double bass viol, the direct ancestor of the double bass. Historically the term has embraced a variety of meanings and even in some Italian sources, the cello. This could perhaps explain why this hidden gem works as well for euphonium as for all lower brass instruments. Those euphonium players familiar with the Catelinet version will discover a virtuoso opening 'allegro' movement and some interesting changes in technique and articulation in the well known 'andante and allegro' parts. Available in a version for euphonium (or baritone/trombone/Bb Bass) Difficulty rating 4/5 (1-6)

The Playful Pachyderm is a beautiful little gem by Gilbert Vinter originally written for his own instrument, the bassoon. One wonders why it's taken so long to be discovered for the euphonium. Ideal recital or concert item. Difficulty rating 4 (1-6)

Pokarekare Ana is a tender simple melody from the New Zealand Maori tradition. For lovers of a good slow melody. Difficulty rating 2/3 (1-6)

Introduction and Tarantella is an incredible violin virtuoso showpiece by the composer of the well known 'Zigeunerweisen - Gypsy Airs'. For those who love practicing the technical side of the instrument; now you need to practice a bit more! Difficulty rating 6 (1-6)

Lucy Long Here is the definitive version of this old 'warhorse' in the original edition as featured in the first London Promenade concerts. This edition finally uses the whole compass of the modern euphonium as well as its technical and musical versatility. Difficulty rating 4/5 (1-6)

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The Euphonium Virtuoso Collection

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