I 1989 komponerte Aagaard-Nilsen et firesatsig verk for uakkompagnert Euphonium for Helga Vetås. Det var hans første verk for dette instrumentet. Det ble senere revidert og kalt 4 Lyriske Stykker. Stykkene tar utgangspunkt i instrumentets evne til ekspressivt spill. Hele utrykksskalaen blir brukt, fra det sarteste til det vulgære. Stykket er også et forsøk på å skrive dikt i musikk.
Fire Lyriske Stykker var obligatorisk verk i International Tuba-Euphonium Association «Euphonium Artist Competition» i 2001.
Four Lyric Pieces
Composed in 1989 for my wife and first performed by her in Bergen. It was my first piece for the Euphonium.
Some years later I revised the piece and changed the title. The four pices is meant to show the expressive quality of the euphounium sound. The whole range of different moods is used, from tender to more burlesque passages. I also wanted to explore the way poems can inspire music. The piece might be considered as an attempt to write poems in music.
Four Lyric Pieces was test pice in the International Tuba-Euphonium Association «Euphonium Artist Competition» in Lahti, Finland, 2001.
