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This movement from "The Elements", which Glen Newton composed as part of the 1983 West Bank School of Music composers' workshop, starts with a hymn-like introduction featuring the clarinet, piano/organ, and bassoon. The euphonium's solo in bar four is played against a sustained G major chord, introducing a question about the major or minor tonality of the movement. At letter A, the first bar seems to be in C major because of the E natural in the tuba part, but the E flats in both euphonium and tuba in the next two bars suggest C minor. But by the time the ensemble reaches letter D, it's clear that the key is G major, and the movement ends with a straightforward chorale.
The composer comments:
I tried to make the "hymn to mother earth" at D rhythmically and harmonically interesting without being overly complex. It worked surprisingly well with only four wind instruments. However, when I rescored it for larger ensembles (brass dectet in 1987 or 6-8 saxophones in 1989) I was able to achieve a full sound while improving the voice leading. For example, I had the first melodic lead (the euphonium part shown here) sustain the note at the beginning of the fourth bar of D while another voice picked up the melody in the second half of the bar and led the ensemble in the dramatic crescendo to the new tonality, switching from E major to C major.