''Tenor Tuba'' says the sleeve in French and German, ''Euphonium'' in English (or ''Baritone'' in American usage). Well of course these have always been three names for the same instrument in different contexts; when a euphonium player is engaged for the Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures or the Holst Planets suite his euphonium becomes a tenor tuba, though neither player nor instrument actually changes. The Mozart Bassoon Concerto has long been a strong candidate for performance on the euphonium, which it fits without the alteration of a single note; though the weight of sound of the instrument has suggested wind band or even brass band as a likely accompanist, rather than the orchestra. But if in his concerto Chevailler does somewhat outweigh the accompaniment (or is made to seem to do so), it is about the only reservation a listener could reasonably have. After, perhaps, an initially widish vibrato settles down, the solo part is played with elegance, as well as the solo part is played with elegance, as well as with very great technical accomplishment; many melodic passages, indeed, come off better on the smoother instrument—played as well as this—than they do on the bassoon. And not every soloist (of any instrument) writes or finds such splendidly appropriate classical cadenzas as Chevailler does (just one opportunity lost, though, in the first movement).
The same skill is seen in an even better light in the F major Bassoon Concerto of Danzi. The better light comes from a better, slightly less forward balance for the soloist; a balance also adopted for the Handel. The Handel is indeed transposed from G minor, the well-known Oboe Concerto; and the downward transposition brings the pitch of the work much closer to Handel's own notion of G minor (though here and in the Danzi the euphonium of course plays the solo part down an octave anyway). Again, the performance is splendid, with agreeable decoration on the part of the soloist where appropriate. It is particularly appropriate in the repeats of the Sarabande: for this movement, int he hands of Hermann Tottcher on an old 10-inch Archiv Produktion release, was among the first to achieve a materially decorated performance of the period on record.
In effect new repertoire for the euphonium is opened up by this record, which has a great deal to say not only to all wind specialists, but to any listener tempted by the notion of the Mozart, in particular, in a new and very viable tone-colour.'