Telemann, Cherubini, Förster, Weber, L. Mozart, M. Haydn - Horn Concertos (1996)

CD 1:
Telemann, Georg Philipp 
01] Hornkonzert D-dur - 1. Vivace
02] Hornkonzert D-dur - 2. Largo
03] Hornkonzert D-dur - 3. Allegro
Cherubini, Luigi
04] Sonate für Horn und Streicher
05] Sonate für Horn und Streicher
Förster, Christoph
06] Hornkonzert Es-dur - 1. Con di
07] Hornkonzert Es-dur - 2. Adagio
08] Hornkonzert Es-dur - 3. Allegro
Weber, Carl Maria von
09] Concertino für Horn e-moll
Mozart, Leopold
10] Hornkonzert D-dur - 1. Allegro
11] Hornkonzert D-dur - 2. Andante
12] Hornkonzert D-dur - 3. Allegro
Haydn, Michael
13] Concertino für Horn D-dur - 1.
14] Concertino für Horn D-dur - 2.
15] Concertino für Horn D-dur - 3.      

CD 2:
01] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 5 In F Major
02] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 5 In F Major
03] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 5 In F Major
04] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 6 In E Flat
05] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 6 In E Flat
06] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 6 In E Flat
07] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 10 In F Majo
08] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 10 In F Majo
09] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 10 In F Majo
10] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 11 In E Majo
11] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 11 In E Majo
12] Stich, Johann W. - Horn Concerto No. 11 In E Majo
13] Haydn, Franz Joseph  - Horn Concerto No. 1 In D Major
14] Haydn, Franz Joseph  - Horn Concerto No. 1 In D Major
15] Haydn, Franz Joseph  - Horn Concerto No. 1 In D Major

Barry Tuckwell, horn
English Chamber Orchestra
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner, conductor

This disc, very well recorded in 1996, is a marvellous display vehicle for the talents of Barry Tuckwell. His horn playing is beyond criticism here and he is well supported by Marriner and his orchestra. The discs are very well filled at over 72 and 78 minutes.

The only area of doubt must lie with the material itself. The most interesting items are the pieces by Weber, Punto and Joseph Haydn. The Haydn concerto is moderately known and occasionally turns up on discs such as this. Pleasant though it is, it is not the equal of Haydn's famous trumpet concerto or most of his mid to late symphonies for example.

More interesting are the four concertos presented here by Punto. Punto was a horn player of great renown and wrote eleven concertos for the horn. The four here are all of musical interest and, as might be expected, show off the horn in the most enjoyable way. Curiously Tuckwell favours quite a lot of 'blarey' tone verging on the raucous in the final movements. Presumably this is to emphasise the horn's hunting connections which are implicit in the music and made explicit in these performances.

The Concertino by Weber is and example where a first class composer meets first class horn player, called Dautrevaux, resulting in a truly interesting and original piece of work. Weber later revised it having met another fine player by the name of Rausch in Munich. This is a lyrical piece requiring considerable agility from the player especially in the last section. This is preceded by a passage which requires the player to hum notes while playing another thus creating a potential 3 part chord sequence based on overlapping harmonics. Hermann Baumann was even more adept at this, and the rest of the piece some years ago, where his tonguing fluency as a former cornet player worked to good effect. He also used the humming technique in his cadenza/s in the Mozart horn concertos played on the natural horn.

The remaining pieces are all entertaining while they last but they are also equally unmemorable. With the best will in the world, they could not be described as being in the same class as the pieces already described, let alone the four concertos by Mozart. For musical value as opposed to entertainment value, they fall somewhere below the likes of Hummel, Spohr or Krommer from the same approximate period for example. Those composers were much liked and admired at the time, were fine craftsmen and musicians but were not in the league of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or even Weber as illustrated here.

I would suggest therefore that this fine pair of discs, uniquely programmed, is completely deserving of serious consideration by horn players and admirers of Tuckwell especially. I enjoy them too from time to time, but I was a trumpet player with a partial vested interest therefore. This will also appeal to lovers of musical byways and can be assured of excellent playing, recording and a notably generous program. --- I. Giles, amazon.com

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