It's actually rather surprising that there aren't very many concertante works for euphonium. At least as played here by crack virtuoso Demondrae Thurman, it's a remarkably flexible and expressive instrument, capable of a wide range of tonal shadings, amazing lightness in quick passages, and of course where called for, an imposing bellow. Perhaps the instrument's band associations count against it, but heaven knows it's a far more interesting solo voice than the tuba, which has several fine works to its credit. That said, and however fine Thurman is, there's a limit to how interesting non-euphoniacs will find John Stevens' Soliloquies or Patrick Schulz's Constellation, both for unaccompanied solo euphonium. Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for violin these ain't, despite the catchy second movement ("Eridanus") of Constellation.

Happily, the bulk of the disc is filled with pieces for solo and orchestra (wind orchestra primarily), and they are very entertaining. Schulz's Concerto, in two movements, opens with a somewhat bluesy slow movement and closes in a mode very close to the finale of Bartók's Fourth Quartet, if you can imagine such a thing arranged for euphonium and winds. Doug Bristol's Fantasy for Euphonium and Orchestra also fills its quarter hour with amiable and attractive music, while Frederic Goossen's Sinfonia Concertante is a bubbly neo-classical essay with plenty of good tunes. All are played fabulously by Thurman and his colleagues, none of whom are identified in any obvious way on the CD package or in its accompanying booklet. Given the different forces and venues involved, the sonics are also excellent. An interesting, useful, and entertaining release.

--David Hurwitz