Matthew asked me to write this piece for him for inclusion on his first compact disc recording. He meant for the recording to be virtuostic, but with a lot of his own special touches and personality. The title track, Everyone But Me, is very personal to Matt because his grandfather wrote it. So, with that in mind, I began considering what piece I might write for him.

The euphonium, with its cello-like qualities, is a very lyrical instrument, but with a powerful player like Matthew, the sound can really light up. He has a range of tone color much wider than most players of any instrument. So it was a wide open search. Should I write a sweet lyrical piece, or should I write a technically difficult piece to show off his virtuosity? The answer was to do both.

I found my programmatic subject matter while travelling through the Prescott National Forest in Arizona - a place which is, to me, sad, lonely, strong and exciting at the very same time. I imagined, as we travelled through the miles and miles of sage bush, solitary travellers and dangerous Clint Eastwood characters roaming the terrain. And I considered the landscape at night: how completely quiet it must be.

So, I began work on the piece with an eye toward all these things. I wrote a sort of musical soliloquy to begin the piece and developed it from there.

I originally had the piece set in a much higher key, but lowered the key by a minor third at Matthew's request. Matt remarked to me, just a few days ago, how he'd found one of those original versions of the piece and was thankful that I changed the key. I have no doubt he still would have played it amazingly well, even had I not altered it.

• Prescott Poem is published by Drew Fennell Publishing.
  Available for Solo Euphonium with Piano, Solo Euphonium w/ Wind Band, Solo Euphonium w/ Brass Band and Solo Euphonium w/ Large Brass Ensemble.

• Hear Prescott Poem in a live performance (complete) by the Carnegie Mellon Pre-College Wind Ensemble, Drew Fennell, Conductor with Matthew Murchison, Solo Euphonium [solo euphonium with wind band version]*.

• Hear a short sample of Prescott Poem by Matthew Murchison, Solo Euphonium and Donna Amato, Piano from the compact disc recording Everyone But Me [solo euphonium with piano version]*.

• Hear a short sample of Prescott Poem in a live performance by the River City Brass Band with Matthew Murchison, Solo Euphonium [solo euphonium with brass band version]*.