Thoughts about Music and Horn Playing
Featuring: Master classes from Horn Professors and Soloists from Belgium, Holland and France. Massed Horn Choirs, Professional Horn Ensemble "Belgian Horn Sound", Historical Instrument Displays, Workshops (repair, alphorn, recording/practicing techniques), Hunting Horn Concert (The Greenfields)
Bucket Lists are all the rage, but I thought I would create a list of orchestral/opera pieces that I still haven't played, and would like to play before I hang up my horn for good. Just to experiece the following pieces would be amazing. I know that my job means that playing any of the operas listed is probably a lost cause, but I continue to dream. I am only about half way through my career (20 years) so I still keep some hope for the orchestral pieces. I am sure that I have forgotten some works, but I can add to them over time if necessary.
The only rule is that I don't care what part I play on these pieces, I just want to experience them from within an orchestra once in my life.
The piece that I dream of playing more than any other: SALOME (My favorite piece of music)
The rest in no particular order:
Operas
Elektra
Der Rosenkavalier
Siegfried
Parsifal
Tristan und Isolde
Cosi fan tutti (I just want to be involved in that trio once)
Fidelio (see Cosi)
Orchestral
Mahler 8 & 9
Schoenberg Gurrelieder
Simfonie domestica
Haydn Symhony 31
Christmas Oratorio
B minor mass
Brandenburg 1
Shostakovitch 5 (still waiting for the chance, but I've got time)
Sibelius Kullervo (our orchestra did play this amazing piece, but I wasn't involved. AMAZING music)
Play as a soloist with a professional orchestra. The closest I have come was playing "des Canyons aux étoiles..." by Messiaen and playing the "Appel interstellaire". But Mozart and Strauss, etc... have eluded me so far. I have a fondness for the Gordon Jacob Concerto.
Chamber music
Brahms Trio (Yes, still waiting. Strangely, I have played Ligeti, but not Brahms)
Schubert Octet
Odd One Out
Sing Tenor in the Britten Serenade.
From Evernote: |
The Courage to Take a Chance |
"Practicing Brahms is like manna from heaven. It feeds the soul of your horn playing."
VERY COOL !!!!
I took a chance and ordered a new book devoted to horn solos, duos, trios and quartets by The Golden Horns from Finland. It has to be the most innovative, fun, and groovy book for horn ever written. I am stunned by the concept and the amazing insight they have brought to horn chamber music and the introduction of rock, "world music" rhythms, jazz, etc... to young horn players.
The book includes a cd which has accompaniments for each piece (16 different pieces). These are electronic, but give young horn players fun, funky and modern music to play with. The layout of the book is as innovative as the musical concept. Prior to each piece the student(s) are given short exercises to help prepare the piece, with suggestions for how to practice the piece. Each piece is graded in difficulty, but even the more difficult ones have 1 or 2 parts (in the trios or quartets) which are easier for less accomplished students. Many of the pieces are great introductions to jazz rhythms and some more technical horn techniques. I imagine that even advanced players and professionals could have some fun with this book because there aren't any limits to what you could do with this material, especially as an improvisation exercise.
The first piece in the book Ruttuvaara School Disco can be played by students with only a couple of weeks of horn under their belt. This one piece is worth the price of the book+CD. If you have a studio of young horn players this book is a gift from heaven. I have included a 1 minute excerpt of the this piece to give you an idea of how fun this book will be. I have also included a scan of the table of contents to give you an idea of the the layout. Many pieces are arranged in such a way that they may be played by 1,2,3 or 4 players, and there is nothing stopping you from doubling parts to use more players.
If you are interested you may purchase the book from links at their website. They are €35 + shipping (€5 in Europe). The website and book are in Finnish and English.
The following video is of their fun film "Space Taxi". If you are interested in hearing more the following link to their website gives you three recorded examples of their playing:
http://www.thegoldenhorns.com/The_Golden_Horns/Kappaleet.html
Sadly, The Golden Horns have not made it into my part of Europe on tour, but I will be looking out for them. This is truly original horn quartet playing. They break every mold that exists and have gone in directions that nobody has gone before except maybe Ghengis Barbie. They are a bit like the Arkady Shikloper of the quartet world, and that is no mean praise. Buy this book, tell your students to buy this book. They will have a blast and learn a bit along the way.
(All of the media content of this post is owned by The Golden Horns. It is their exclusive property and is included in this blog for the interest of a review of their book. Any other use of this material is subject to Copyright law and rights must be obtained from The Golden Horns)
First of all, Happy Holidays from Belgium. I wish everyone a wonderful 2012. My apologies for not writing over the past month, but as the title of this post implies; I have been busy with the love of brass music.
Since the second week of November I have been living the busiest weeks of the last few years. I am always tired, always running around, never enough time to practice and loving every minute of it. Playing great gigs with great people and old friends, rehearsing like a crazy person for chamber music and learning the rest of Hansel and Gretel. (I had only ever played the overture) From one extreme to another, but the unifying thread has been great music. Lots of new stuff (all good) which really keeps you on your toes. It hasn't all been a "breeze" and not everything has gone as planned, but it was truly exhilarating. I know that by free-lance standards my schedule is nothing special, but it is unusual for me. It is not often that a full time orchestral musician can find the time in the schedule to do special projects, but this season, so far...the planets have aligned. It has meant that I have had to turn down quite a few orchestral gigs, but as with most things it is a cycle.
A few years ago I tried, in vain, to get a brass ensemble concert programmed by the orchestra. Later I succeeded in getting a children's program using the brass and percussion of the orchestra. I still carry a dim hope of a brass ensemble concert, but traditions seem to be against that kind of programming. After playing a "new" kind of brass ensemble concert a few weeks ago I think that not being brave and innovative in brass programming is quite sad. Benny Wiame's "New Brass Directions" gave it's inagural concert combining "classical" players with jazz players to create an brass ensemble capable of really playing jazz as well as classical compositions.
I was very surprised when I got a call from Benny Wiame. We had never met and yet he came to me asking about a brass ensemble combining classical and jazz players. From the first rehearsal I had a blast. Very, very tough music, as is often the case for the horn player in these groups. A combination of pieces with 1 or 2 horns. Original pieces by great composers and even 1 new composition (jazz) by the trombone player Lode Mertens. We had our first concert in November and I don't remember having so much fun playing a concert which left me pulling my lips out from between my teeth. The following videos give you a flavor of the ensemble. I am very honored to have been asked to play with this group, and look forward to the next concert in February.
A fantastic new piece by Stanley Friedman "Concerto for Brass" which is a real "tour de force" was a real highlight of the first concert. The quality of commissions has been a wonderful part of the birth of this group.
At about the same time, long time friends and colleagues asked about re-starting a brass quintet. The quintet "Brass Label" started quite a few years ago, but was forgotten because of schedules and other priorities. When we started again we decided that we would work only for our pleasure playing the repertoire we wanted to play and not what others wanted us to play. The assumption is that we won't ever have a lot of concerts, but we will program interesting pieces (original or arranged) which show off our groups personality without conforming to any preconceived notion of what a brass quintet should be. I realize that to most that this is not original in concept, but in Belgium you would be surprised how old fashioned brass music playing can be. With these two groups doors into new music have been opened, and for that, I am very thankful.
This is not a book review. I will be forthright and say that I love just about everything I have read by Alex Ross. I think that "The Rest is Noise" is one of the best books about music that has ever been written. I am not qualified to "review" a book, but "I do know what I like."
Wonderful blog post by Cal Newport at "Study Hacks" blog.
"The Berlin Study
In the early 1990s, a trio of psychologists descended on the Universität der Künste, a historic arts academy in the heart of West Berlin. They came to study the violinists.
As described in their subsequent publication in Psychological Review, the researchers asked the academy’s music professors to help them identify a set of stand out violin players — the students who the professors believed would go onto careers as professional performers.
We’ll call this group the elite players.
For a point of comparison, they also selected a group of students from the school’s education department. These were students who were on track to become music teachers. They were serious about violin, but as their professors explained, their ability was not in the same league as the first group.
We’ll call this group the average players.
The three researchers subjected their subjects to a series of in-depth interviews. They then gave them diaries which divided each 24-hour period into 50 minute chunks, and sent them home to keep a careful log of how they spent their time.
Flush with data, the researchers went to work trying to answer a fundamental question:Why are the elite players better than the average players?"
Checkout the rest because the conclusions are very enlightening!
I suppose that when I started this series of posts that I didn't really have any preconceived notions about what constitutes a "hidden danger". Obviously they are pieces which are less frequently played, or well known pieces which have tricky little solos that our teachers just didn't have time to share with us. It seems that growing up in the USA, programming trends meant that French repertoire, apart from the obvious pieces, is more often neglected. Because of it's difficulties it always shows up on auditions, but oddly is heard much less in concert. Having decided to work in Belgium I have encountered a much wider range of French repertoire, and this includes some real rarities.
Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_d'Indy was a French composer and teacher. He was a student of César Franck, but the list of d'Indy's students reads like a who's who of early 20th century composers: Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Cole Porter, Albert Roussel and Erik Satie to name just a few. Some might say that his music may seem a bit old fashioned, but in general I enjoy his music. You may be familiar with the Wind Septet "Chansons et danses" op. 50. We performed the "Diptyque méditerranéen" this season and it is full of tricky 1st horn solos. I thought I would share a couple with you as "Hidden Dangers". The YouTube video tempos are on the slow side, but they give you the general idea.
The YouTube video is in two parts. The link is for the first "Diptyque". The second excerpt would be a great sight-reading exercise. Enjoy.
