Alec Frank-Gemmill

Swedish Chamber Orchestra

Nicholas McGegan, English Bach Festival Singers & Baroque Orchestra

Mozart: Horn Concertos

Mozart

I. Allegro, K. 412

Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K. 211: II. Adagio (Arr. for Horn & Orch by Alec Frank-Gemmill and Stephen Roberts)

II. Rondo. Allegro, K. 514

I. Allegro

II. Andante

III. Rondo

II. Romance

III. Allegro

I. Allegro maestoso

I. [Allegro] , K. 370b (Reconstr. by Stephen Roberts)

II. Rondeau. Allegro, K. 371 (Compl. by Stephen Roberts)

Daniel Grimwood

Benjamin Marquise Gilmore

Johannes Brahms

The horn was one of the instruments that Johannes Brahms learned in his youth, from his father who played it professionally. His fondness and familiarity with the instrument is clear from the glorious solos that he provided it with in his symphonies, and he gave it pride of place in the Horn Trio that he wrote in memory of his mother Christiane. Even so, he never composed any other chamber work involving the horn – an oversight that horn players have regretted ever since. Following up on two highly acclaimed BIS albums, Alec Frank-Gemmill decided to rectify this, and enlisted the help of pianist Daniel Grimwood and violinist Benjamin Marquise Gilmore. It goes without saying that the resulting disc includes the Horn Trio – which Frank-Gemmill has chosen to perform on the instrument played by Aubrey Brain on his legendary 1933 recording of the work. But leading up to this are two works originally written for violin and cello respectively. The sometimes controversial subject of transcriptions is discussed by Frank-Gemmill in his liner notes where he also explains his selection of works. In the Scherzo that Brahms wrote as his contribution to the F-A-E Sonata (which also included movements by Schumann and Albert Dietrich), he finds that the very fabric of the piece is made up of horn calls, while the galloping 6/8 theme reminds him of the final movement of the horn trio. Wanting to also include a sonata, Frank-Gemmill settled on the E minor Cello Sonata, Op. 38 as the one best suited for the horn, and together with arranger Daniel Grimwood the decision was made to transpose the work a third up, into G minor. Through their efforts, we are able to present a Brahms recital that hornists – and the rest of us – could only dream of.

Brahms: Chamber Music

Svenska Kammarorkestern

Roger Olsson

Urban Svensson

Mozart’s horn concertos are so well-known that for many listeners the sound of the horn and Mozart are virtually synonymous. Mozart was not the first composer to write solo concertos for the horn, however, and works from earlier on in the eighteenth century give a quite different perspective on the instrument. With this disc soloist Alec Frank-Gemmill provides insights into some of these early horn concertos, by composers ranging from Telemann to Haydn, by way of Mozart’s own father, Leopold. In the seventeenth century, when the horn first appeared in classical music, it was in the context of hunting scenes in operas by Lully, Cavalli and others. But the instrument’s true adoption into art music really began the following century in the German-speaking world, where Dresden for a while became the most important centre for performing on, and composing for, the horn. Around 1750, both Christoph Forster and Johann Baptist Georg Neruda wrote extremely demanding and virtuosic concertos – Neruda’s Concerto in E flat major is in such a high register that it has sometimes been assumed to be composed for the trumpet. Through modern innovations in horn design it is once more possible to perform all of these early horn concertos, including parts previously considered ‘impossibly high’. Alec Frank-Gemmill is recognised internationally for the exceptional breadth and depth of his music-making. His interest in historical performance informed his previous, highly acclaimed disc for BIS – a traversal of the horn repertoire throughout some 140 years, performed on four different 19th-century instruments. On the present disc he plays on modern horns, but draws heavily on his familiarity with 18th-century horn technique and style, with the support of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under period performance expert Nicholas McGegan.

Before Mozart: Early Horn Concertos

A Noble & Melancholy Instrument

https://image.joox.com/JOOXcover/0/24120447bf8dff01/300

Mozart: Horn Concertos

歌曲列表

更多 Alec Frank-Gemmill