> > I am looking for a kick butt piece (even one with a softer beginning or
middle
> section like the Carillon de Westminster or Gigout Toccata) but it has to be
> American.

I'm sorry I only now noticed this thread (due to a sporadic schedule in the office during the summer).

The Toccata by C. Alexander Peloquin is definitely worth looking at if you can find it.  It was published, I think, by McLaughlin & Reilly, in the 1960s but I have no idea whether it is still in print.

Although it is not fiendishly difficult, I'd consider it in the kick-butt category as to its effectiveness.  As it is based on a fragment of Gregorian chant from the proper for Christmas or Christmas Eve, you might scruple to save it for Christmastide at least in an extended sense (the *most* extended sense being up to Feb. 2, the Feast of the Purification/Presentation, as tends to be recognized in Europe).  The fellow student who introduced it to me by learning and performing it liked the piece's "intensity"-- a good word.  Its dynamic contour is f > p < ff.

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