Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Concertino Op. 45 J. 188 (1806 rev. 1815)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Concertstück for four horns Op. 86 (1849)
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Horn Concerto No. 1, Op. 11 TrV. 117 (1882-3)
Horn Concerto No. 2 TrV. 283 (1942)
Martin Owen (horn in all works)
Christopher Parkes, Alec Frank-Gemmill, Sarah Willis (horns: Schumann)
BBC Philharmonic/John Wilson
rec. 2022, MediaCity, Salford, Manchester, UK
Chandos CHAN20168 [66]
This is one of those discs which is very demanding for the solo performer but sheer pleasure for the listener. We have here four concertos for the horn, spread out over a period of about 150 years, and which among other things show off the developing capabilities of the instrument during this period, and I shall discuss them in chronological order, which is not that on the disc.
Weber’s Concertino was written for the Waldhorn, that is to say the horn which could play only the notes of the harmonic series with very limited ability to fill in the chromatic spaces in between. (This is the same instrument for which Mozart wrote his concertos and, indeed, which all previous composers had to use.) His Concertino is a small concerto in three movements and is a joyous work. Weber wrote it when he was twenty, having just moved to a new job which gave him more time to compose. He treats the horn almost as if it were a human voice and the work an aria, except for the central slow movement, where he daringly asks for multiphonics, that is, the playing of more than one note simultaneously. If I find them more interesting than beautiful, they are certainly interesting, while the rest of the work is suitably carefree and virtuosic.
Schumann wrote his Concertstück in 1850, when the valve horn was coming into use, and he grasped the opportunities afforded by the improved instrument eagerly. This work is in fact a short quadruple concerto for four horns, and it shows off the chromatic possibilities of the valve horn in a brilliant way. Schuman was very pleased with it and considered it one of his best works. If it appears rarely in concert it must be partly because the parts are so treacherously demanding for the four soloists. There are again three movements. The first movement is exuberant and cheerful, the slow movement rather like one of Schumann’s lyrical piano pieces, and the finale sets off at a helter-skelter pace which I thought the players could not possibly keep up, but they do.
Richard Strauss’s two concertos come from opposite ends of his composing career. The first he wrote with his father in mind. His father was a celebrated horn player, among other things entrusted by Wagner to create Siegfried’s horn call. Richard Strauss designated his concerto as being for the Waldhorn, the instrument his father preferred to the valve horn, but actually it requires the valve instrument. It is the most successful of all Strauss’s earlier works and has remained in the repertory. Again there are three movements, with a slow minor movements between two fast ones.
The second concerto comes from Strauss’s last years, during which he also wrote the oboe concerto, the duett-concertino for clarinet and basson and the two wind serenades. It shares with them an easy and mellifluous manner as if oblivious to the dreadful things that had been happening all around at the time. It also at times recalls the first concerto of some sixty years earlier. The first two movements are largely lyrical, while the finale is brilliant and demanding for the soloist.
Martin Owen is a busy man. He is principal horn in three orchestras and also has a solo career. He is completely in command of the technical demands of these works and plays them with the kind of apparently easy virtuosity which they require. He plays a rotary valve German-style horn, which is the standard instrument nowadays. In the Schumann Concertstück he is joined by three other distinguished players, who amply hold their own. This is not the kind of repertoire with which one associates John Wilson but he conducts with élan and the BBC Philharmonic respond accordingly. The sound is rich in the Chandos manner; I did think the solo horn was balanced slightly too forward, but that is a small point. The booklet – on which I have drawn, with thanks – is helpful and the whole a delight.
Stephen Barber
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