Tuba Quartet (EETT) Competition Suggestions

[AndyCat]

I'm looking for suggestions for our bands' Tuba quartet to play at a Brass Quartet contest.
2 x Euph, 1 x EEb and 1 x BBb.

1st Euph can play almost anything, 2nd Euph is a good, but not outstanding, player. Tubas are good. I'd like 4th part to be BBb friendly!

So, we need contrasting styles and tempos and possibly 10 (8-12?) minutes. Can be a suite, or one piece as long as it has contrasts.

We won last year, against standard brass quartets (cornets, horn, euph). trombone quartets and bass (2 EEb, 2 BBb) quartets. We played a British Tuba Quartet arrangement of Bach "Fugue in G Minor (The Great)" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6clTa8_Q ... re=related), and we managed well, but we need something more varied! Needs to impress but not be much harder.

Our experience is much less than others on this board, and I'll need to get the parts to the UK, but welcome all suggestions!

[pgym]

Does it need to be a unified work (suite or single piece) or can it be a program of 2-3 individual pieces?

[AndyCat]

Single piece or suite would be best, unless there's a strong link!

[BVD Press]

Dear Andy,

If you are looking for something relatively new, you might want to consider the charts we commissioned for ITEC in 2008:

http://www.cimarronmusic.com/ITEC2008TubaQuartets/

The Woodward is on the ITEC 2010 Competition list so if you happen to be participating in that, you could kill two birds with one stone...

Good luck finding something!!

[djwesp]

Andy,

I'm sure you have already considered this, but I think a lot of the Sotto Voce stuff would suit this situation well. A lot of the compositions sound like a perfect fit for the ensemble. When done well, these pieces are very showman like. They are great for tearing up some of the instrument's stereotypes.

http://www.tubaquartet.com" target="_blank has some recordings, you can buy music, and you can email any of the performers for advice on pieces that would work great in this setting.

Personally I think "Consequences" would be very pleasing and shocking to most non-tuba players. Some non traditional techniques, lots of range, and some very good rhythmic work.

[AndyCat]

Thanks for the suggestions, I've just ordered Consequences, Harmonius Blacksmith from Sotto Voce, and 3 of the quartets from Cimarron Music.

[BVD Press]

A new tuba quartet from Ken Friedrich:

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=1306497&t=5105

Lots of other tuba and euph sounds there if you have some time to listen.

[Keith Sanders]

Another great piece for Tuba-Euph quartet is Benediction by John Stevens. It is an absolutely gorgeous piece that shows off the soloing abilities of the group. It is not hard technically but is a very musically challenging piece. A really beautiful piece for quartet.

Keith

[BVD Press]

And cheap too:

http://justforbrass.com/index.php?main_ ... ts_id=1249

[BVD Press]

I think it runs about 11 minutes. It can be found here:

http://www.cimarronmusic.com/music-friedrich.cfm

[AndyCat]

Thanks for all the suggestions chaps. We have around 8 minutes only, so have discounted the longer ones on purely time, not quality, issues.

I've ordered around $150 of stuff, so will have to wait and see if what's coming will do! Music is a fairly low priority financial luxury at the moment!

Thanks,

Andy