Midnight Shakes the Memory, Opus 50 by Neal Corwell
Instrumentation: solo euphonium with piano accompaniment
Copyright: 2007
Duration: ca. 8:15
Range: BB-flat to c-sharp-2
Difficulty: IV
Publisher: Nicolai Music
Price: $15
Other Info: The work was commissioned by Ann Baldwin Hinote, euphoniumist with the Air Force Concert Band in Washington, D.C, and dedicated to the memory of her father, Howard R. Baldwin. Ann premiered the piece at the 2007 US Army Band Tuba Euphonium Conference at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia.
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The title, Midnight Shakes the Memory, is a line from T.S. Eliot’s poem “Rhapsody”. The composition matches the mood and spirit of the poem’s first stanza, and the piano part contains several references to the striking of chimes at midnight. Audiences will find the work to be dramatic and exciting. From the performer’s perspective, the solo part has its share of challenges, but all the difficulties presented are idiomatically feasible. Once one is familiar with the music and its angular disjunct melodic lines, the work is not prohibitively difficult, and gives the soloist ample opportunity for expressive playing.