Background

        Evolution was performed by the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass in July of 2017. It is scored for the traditional instrumentation of two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba. I was able to work with the group and get a feel for the idioms and difficulties of each instrument; the piece was heavily revised several times.
        It was also in this piece that I learned the value of creating a performance the players enjoy. Originally I did not have much melody in the tuba, which might well fit the idiom (Pachabel’s Canon, anyone?), but the tubist Adam Baer made a comment about how his part felt shadowed by the others. Thinking upon this, I added solo parts for both the tuba and trombone who had otherwise not seen much melodic and centric play. The quintet commended the change and were very happy to play such parts. I have not forgotten this moment, and I make it a point to grant pleasurable lines to all of the instruments in a piece.
        The quintet was composed during my second year of composition and the score does not reflect my current ability. Nonetheless, I will post the score that the Philharmonic Quintet read from, as it is from this paper that the piece was realized. The score can be downloaded here. Forgive the audio, it was recorded by the venue.