Boston Brass ala 2012

Boston Brass is one of the most recognized and active brass quintets touring today. The group was founded in 1986 and has gone through numerous personnel changes over the last 35+ years. In fact, my former teacher Velvet Brown was the founding tubist. I've had the opportunity to hear the quintet perform live twice. The first time was at ITEC 2016 with Sam Pilafian on tuba. It was a life changing evening for me. Hearing Sam play live, with a quintet, was so inspiring. But I wish I got to hear the group with Lance LaDuke on trombone/euphonium. 

In 2006, Lance LaDuke joined the quintet in the trombone role. There was just one problem. LaDuke was a euphonium player. Nonetheless, the quintet accepted him into the group on euphonium, with the understanding that there would be some required trombone playing. This new aspect of the quintet created opportunities for creative new arrangements and colors. LaDuke's euphonium playing can be heard on this video of a performance from 2012.

The euphonium gives the ensemble a richer sound. In this arrangement, the euphonium is used to great effect as a doubling of the melody. There is only one real moment where the euphonium pops out of the texture as a solo melodic instrument. The trills at the beginning and middle of the piece work extremely well and give a cohesion to the phrase that's just not possible on trombone. Overall, this is an effective use of the instrument and, besides the unconventional look of the ensemble, is a great way to introduce euphonium into the brass quintet. 

Here is a performance from 2 years later with the aforementioned Sam Pilafian on tuba and, more important in this context, Domingo Pagliuca on trombone. Comparing and contrasting this particular arrangement is fascinating. 

Some of the off-beat trombone ostinatos are a little hot compared to the euphonium version. The big scaler section before the coda is also not as cohesive as the euphonium version. And it should be noted, I'm not criticizing Domingo Pagliuca's trombone playing. Having seen him play live with Boston Brass, I can confirm he is an absolutely monster musician. I'm strictly speaking to the tone color and ergonomics of playing the trombone vs. euphonium. 

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My plan with this post is to normalize euphonium so each post will conclude with a reference to euphonium in pop culture. Every time I see euphonium represented "in the wild" I utter to myself "Euph got to be kidding me." 

So we'll start off with an all-timer sequence from Harry Potter at the Goblet of Fire. The Hogwarts school band features many magically modified euphoniums that play the Hogwarts March. This absolutely tracks, given the tradition of British Brass Bands in the UK. Look for it on your next re-watch of Goblet of Fire!