Demonic Dance for Baritone / Euphonium

A fiendishly difficult solo for Euphonium or Baritone, Demonic Dance gives the player the opportunity to demonstrate their command of the instrument, both technically and musically.
The piece begins with a clear statement of demonic intent from the soloist with a simple theme which seems to somehow hint of more challenging things to come. This is immediately followed by a short almost lighter melodic few bars which still seem to carry an underlying threat.
A few bars later the fun starts, with the soloist beginning very short variations on the opening theme lasting only a few bars before the piece takes an unexpected turn and what at first glance appears to be an abrupt ending.
The bass trombone however has other ideas and picks up a 'demonic ground bass', over which the soloist sings for a few bars before the demonic difficulty returns, rising to a crescendo and a 23 bar FFF band climax.
The soloist then emerges from the chaos playing a quasi cadenza passage which accelerates back into a fiendishly difficult variation of the opening theme - it only lasts 4 bars but contains over 100 notes!
Following a short tutti passage the soloist returns, combining short melodic passages with virtuosic technical lines, which gradually build to a climax.

Listen to a live performance HERE

Also available as a solo with piano