Review from ITEA Journal, Fall 2008
from ITEC's Noontime Concert Series, Friday, June 27, 2008
'...Their (Texas State Tuba Ensemble) next selection was the fourth movement from “Suite No. Four” by Kenneth Friedrich. This work was composed in the memory of Tommy Johnson. The movement features a very beautiful lyrical opening section and a lively fugue like section. One of my favorite sections was a bell tone section going down through the ensemble. Here the ensemble did a wonderful job matching style and articulation and blending.'
~Lloyd Bone, Glenville State College
Review from ITEA Journal, Winter 2009
Through the Eyes of Innocence
Kenneth Friedrich has produced a sometimes contemplative yet easy to listen work for flute, tuba, and piano with Through the Eyes of Innocence. Being true to its name, the work has an innocent quality about it, as I can almost imagine hearing parts of the piece on popular children’s shows accompanying a child exploring the neighbor’s lawn or playing at the neighborhood park. Within this simple palette, Friedrich includes interesting harmonic changes that provide forward direction and good pacing throughout.
Although the range of the tuba part may seem large, 90% of the part lies within the “cash register” of the tuba with rare forays into the basement or the top of the staff. After a statement of the melody, the flute often acts as ornamentation to the tuba playing the melody, so greater technical facility is required. But all parts are well within reach of amateurs willing to work hard.
The parts are quite legible with the flute and tuba duet functioning as the instrumentalists’ part and all parts are on the piano score. Readability would be improved if the piano part were written an octave lower with an octave designation at the beginning of the 1st movement. Also, the first movement has a metronome marking but no style marking while the last movement has a style marking but no metronome marking (the second movement has both). These minor inconsistencies are no reason to miss this light piece for flute, tuba and piano, and I can imagine it working well as background music while “passing the plate” at church or with a bit of added narration or theater. I think it could work quite well for children’s concerts. Check out excerpts from the score and full recordings at Ken Friedrich’s website above. The tuba range is DD to b.
~Jason Byrnes, University of Northern Colorado
Review from ITEA Journal, Spring 2009
El Toro Loco
When I opened the first page of the score, the instrumentation of four euphoniums and two tubas immediately caught my attention. With this orchestration, a big challenge for many ensembles would be finding bodies to cover four euphonium parts. An E-flat or F tuba could cover the fourth euphonium part, but the third part lies above the staff for long stretches and reaches a plateau of b-flat1. In addition, the work is scored in pairs (euphonium 1 and 2, euphonium 3 and 4, tuba 1 and 2), which would create problems with timbre if a tuba played the fourth part.
The music is fun to play and written in a Latin or even a mariachi flavor as the title suggests. There are four different sections and a fifth where the first idea is repeated up a whole step. The top melodic line is mostly carried by the first or third euphonium with the second or fourth euphonium a third below. For a majority of the work, the tubists play an accompanying role but do have melodic material for short stretches.
There is a tricky offbeat accompaniment line that passes through the parts, which is made more difficult by the music typesetting. Though copied out with a computer, this pattern is crushed in some parts so that consecutive sixteenth rests meld together, creating a confusing visual appearance.
Many of Mr. Friedrich’s low brass works are available from Cimarron Press, though this work is self-published and available on the composer’s web page. It is playable by an undergraduate ensemble or a group that has at least three euphoniumists with developed high ranges and most easily performed with a conductor.
~Ken Drobnak, The University of South Dakota
