Works included in the Five Orchestral Etudes are: Ein Heldenleben and Don Quixote by Strauss, Symphony No. 7 and 1 (tuba solo) by Mahler, The Planets by Holst, Pictures at an Exhibition (tuba solo) by Mussorgsky, and the Concertino by Janacek.
According to the composer, they are even more difficult than the actual excerpts themselves, so the real thing should seem simpler by comparison. -the publisher