Hello again, Hornists.
I want to thank you for these enlightening answers
and the added fact that some of you provided Horn
advice for my huge First Symphony 3 years ago. I
ended up using 6 Horns, with each pair being a High
and Low Horn, with the 6th Horn being the lowest. I
had one rowdy passage with Loud, growling Trills in
All 6 Horns, Euphonium and Tuba, each on a different
pitch. I also gave Solo Passages for nearly Every
Individual Wind Instrument, each Percussionist, the
Harp, each String Section, and the First Chair Soloists
of each String Section, because I wanted this
symphony to also be somewhat of a Concerto for
Orchestra. I finished the First Three Movements, which
already total an hour, and I have had to put work on
the complex fugal 4th Movement aside for a while.
(I've also written several large works for Horn,
including: a Sonata for Unaccompanied Horn, 17 min.;
Sonata for Four Horns, 17 min.; Sonata No. 1 for Horn
and Piano, 28 min.; and a full Concerto, 16 min. I still
need to complete the 2nd Sonata for Horn and Piano.
Each of the piano-accompanied sonatas has a Slow
Movement that is also arranged for String Accompani-
ment like a Konzertstück, about 7 minutes long, each.)
Meanwhile, thank you, Mr. Ovitsky, for this list of
Dennis Brain recordings of the Dvorak Cello Concerto.
I will look for them.
> date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 22:30:42 -0400
> from: "DalleyHN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> . . . I played the solo for Piatagorsky and Nelsova as
> well as my mother (an excellent cellist), and my sister
> (also an excellent cellist). I played it several times at
> Interlochen with high school soloists that I can no
> longer remember . . .
If you were at Interlochen in the Late 1960's or Early
1970's, you may have played it with Louis Lowenstein,
the cello prodigy, whom I knew in those years. He went
from total cello beginner to studying with Piatigorsky in
only FIVE years! He's in the Pittsburgh Symphony for
many years now, and prefers playing Jazz Cello over
classical, when he's not doing an orchestral gig.
As for Horns, Crooks and Key Signatures, I have
never used a Key Signature in any of my Official
Instrumental works, except Cadenzas of some of the
Mozart Concerti. I use Chromatic Modal Harmony, but
it modulates so often, that to write in an Official Key
Signature and then Negate it, and write in a New Key
Signature every few bars apart, would be more confusing
that it's worth. Like many classically trained composers
for the last 100 years, I use NO Key Signature and Free
Chromatics as needed. I also make a Full C Score, a Full
Transposed Score, and even a Piano Reduction for
concerti. I put Cut Notes in all Part Books, and print
them myself, so that the Page Turns occur during long
rests for that instrument. All of this helps compensate for
the fact that nearly all of my music is Very Difficult to
Play, in a blend of Bartók, Prokofieff, Shostakovich,
Hindemith, styles.
I remember reading years ago, that Brahms heard the
1895 Dvorak Cello Concerto and said something to the
effect of, 'if I knew a cello could do that, I would have
written a cello concerto'. (Brahms died in 1897.) Of
course Brahms had written 4 Concerti: 2 for piano, one
for violin, and a Double Concerto for Violin and Cello.
None are easy for the soloists, and there is much for him
to be proud of, in the Cello part of his Double Concerto.
I have scores of all 4 Brahms concerti and the Horn
Parts are impressive, but they seem to specify being
written for Crooks! I don't know the Dvorak symphonies
as well as I should, nor do I have scores of any them, but
he only lived into 1904.
I believe I've read that some of the Late-19th Century
composers expected Horn Players to use Valved Horns
with One Fingering to put the horn in One Key for a long
passage, or an Entire Work, and then Lip all the notes
from there. I believe that some of those composers were
NOT expecting the Horn Players to actually Change
Fingerings Often while playing. I believe that Richard
Strauß stuck exclusively to Key Signatures until his death
in 1949, but I know little about his scores and horn
writing. But it DOES speak well for the Impressive Horn
Writing by several Late-19th Century composers like
Brahms, Dvorak, and Strauß!
Bear Woodson
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
Home: 520 - 881 - 2558
"Bear Woodson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Aluminum foil makes a lovely hat and it blocks
out the government's mind control rays."
- Detective John Munch (actor Richard Belzer)
to "The Lone Gunmen" ("the 3 conspiracy-freak,
computer nerds" who help Agent Fox Mulder, in
the "X-Files" "Unusual Suspects" Episode 100,
Season 5: # 3.) (Nov. 1997)
http://schwicky.net/xfiles/episodes/5/unusual_suspects/
_______________________________________________
post: [email protected]
unsubscribe or set options at
http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
