Orchestra - Contemporary - Mixed Ensemble - Solo and Chamber group - Duet - 5

The first movement, ‘Start of the Journey’, is light and filled with excitement and anticipation of the ‘journey’ ahead. The middle of the movement utilizes a familiar theme in celebration of joy for the impending trip.

The second movement, ‘Exploration in the Phrygian Woods’, uses the Phrygian mode to give the feeling of wonder and suspense of what our two musicians may find. The flute starts with the lead, but the tuba, not to be outdone, quickly takes the melody to have his turn to ‘explore’ the movement. The two join forces to end this movement.

The final movement, ‘Lost and Found’ begins very dark and slow giving the audience the sense of helplessness. But, the sun shines through and our two musicians find their way out of the woods with a light and playful melody. The movement comes to an end as all are well and at peace once more.

Please enjoy, ‘A Walk in the Woods’ for Flute and Tuba. Learn More

Bassoon and Tuba; Dedicated to Judy and Gary Buttery

I. Prelude

II. Gavotte

III. Courante

IV. Sarabande

V. Minuet

VI. Gigue

with Piano

Written for Gail Robertson and Stacy Baker (SymbiosisDuo) Premiered May 24, 2019 - International Women's Brass Conference

reduction with Rhythm section (recording is with wind ensemble)

The Concerto for tuba and winds is in my usual Third-Stream style, but I utilized
many new techniques for the first time in this piece. Jazz, rock, hip-hop and many kinds
of classical styles come together in the Concerto. Polymeter, improvisation and intuitive
swing notation play important roles in this piece as well as traditional four-part
counterpoint and ancient Greek form. It is simply titled Concerto in a classical fashion
but each movement has a more descriptive title.
I. Swing Low
II. Adagio
III. Cutting Contest

I utilized a customized variation on the classical concerto form: a sonata-allegro
first movement, a slow second movement and a theme and variations finale.
Philosophically, this piece explores the traditional nature of a concerto from several
different angles. The first movement explores the cooperative side of a concerto. One
Latin root of the word concerto is conserere, which means to join. The soloist and wind
ensemble cooperate to produce many layers of polymeter in Swing Low. The Latin root
certamen, on the other hand, means to fight. So while the first movement is a
cooperative effort, the third movement, Cutting Contest, explores the idea of a musical
battle between the solo tuba and the wind ensemble on a familiar tune.

On March 6th, 2012, the Concerto was premiered in Seattle. Erin Bodnar led the
University of Washington Wind Ensemble with myself soloing. The Central Washington
University Wind Ensemble then recorded it with Dean Snavely conducting.

This reduction of Concerto features two different versions of the third movement
to allow for players to navigate the virtuosic fingering acrobatics on an E-Flat or F tuba.
The solo lines at letter E were inspired by Arban’s Carnival of Venice.

Curtis Peacock
January 26, 2014