Instrumentation:
euph
Approximate duration:
6 minutes
Programme notes (© David Curington, 2011):
This solo is a controlled (written) improvisation over a structure consisting of 273 units,
hence the title. It extropolates material which comes naturally from the mechanics of
the euphonium, namely a fragment of the harmonic series and a chromatic scale and combines
them with other more novel effects such as multiphonics and flutter-tonguing.
The structure is roughly discernable (although not exactly) as a larger ternary form, the first
section of which is very playful in character, littered with sharp juxtapositions, the second of which
introduces a slower, more settled "maestoso" tempo and the third of which is infected to a
greater and greater degree by this introduction, resulting in the breakout of more continuous and
lyrical writing towards the end.
273 was completed in April 2011 for Lewis Musson for performance in the
RNCM Gold Medal Weekend.
Sample music:
Click here for a few
pages of the score as a pdf file, or listen to an excerpt below.