Tuba and Euphonium Duos!

Northern Lights Duo


The Northern Lights Duo is a tuba and euphonium duo made up of Norwegian euphonium player Bente Illevold and American tuba player David Earll. The group is notable not only for showcasing incredible playing, but for their commitment to teaching. The group regularly travels to schools to not only perform but give masterclasses, lessons, and lectures. 


According to their social media channels, the duo is expected to release an album sometime this spring. Until then, we have a few YouTube videos to enjoy of this great ensemble.




Duba Dance is a duo for euphonium and tuba written by Belgian composer and arranger Steven Verhelst. He writes about the piece, “This piece features the typical sound and ideology of two tuba’s. Both instruments are chatting their way through the introduction. In the first movement they try to dance their own typical style. The character of the piece changes when they both start dancing on a ‘Irish orientated’ dance. Imagine 2 tuba’s doing a ‘Lord of the Dance’ choreography. Inspired by this, they challenge themselves by combining both styles in a grand finale.” 





I really enjoy this particular performance for its musicality. Illevold’s nuanced, melodic gestures and Earll’s consistent, bold bass lines make this performance stand out.




SymbiosisDuo


SymbiosisDuo is an American duo made up euphonium player Gail Robertson and tuba player Stacy Baker. The group was formed in 2007 to “increase awareness of the tuba/euphonium duo as a performance medium and to promote and disseminate new works for this unique combination of instruments”.





Combined Efforts by Faye-Ellen Silverman was commissioned by SymbiosisDuo and premiered at the International Women’s Brass Conference in 2014. Silverman is a New York City based composer and teacher who has written a number of pieces for brass ensembles, but this is her only euphonium and tuba duo piece. 





Combined Efforts is in three movements with the first being a lullaby that is passed between the to instruments. The second movement has a completely different character, with extreme dynamics and angular melodies. The final movement begins with low, slow notes from both instruments and continually increases the tempo and range into a raucous ending.



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Today's euphonium pop culture moment comes from the 2022 Disney+ Star Wars series "Andor". I don't want to give any spoilers because this happens fairly late in the season, but there is a processional that features a band with space-instruments that resemble real instruments. There's flutes, horns, drums, and even SPACE EUPHONIUMS. Come on! How cool is that? I wonder what excerpts they play for auditions? Do they have a trigger to help with intonation?






Comments

  1. CaylanApril 19, 2023 at 10:20 PM

    I know Dave Earll! The Northern Lights Duo recently played and gave a masterclass at Western Illinois University, I just wish I had the time to catch Dave in person

    ReplyDelete

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