If Lyrita's Horn Concerto CD (Bowen,
Gipps) was Alpha then this
is Omega. David Pyatt was the
focus for that English romantic collection.
Barry Tuckwell is the fulcrum in this
medley of British horn concertos of
the 1960s and 1970s. The earlier disc,
SRCD316, comprised Lyrita original session
recordings. This one invaluably harvests
the British Council-Decca-Argo LP production
of 40-50 years ago; not that the analogue
sound is anything other than extremely
pleasing.
The succinct little
Hoddinott concerto is eccentrically
laid out with two orchestral movements
in brooding quasi-Shostakovich mode
followed by one in which most of it
is taken up with the horn playing unaccompanied.
The composer's predilection for bells,
percussion and fantasy is fully indulged
in the Romanza. It also has a
sense of epic conflict and this despite
the brevity of the movements. Coming
second there is a galloping hard-on-the-heels
Scherzo with lashngs of cantabile
and brilliance. The Cadenza finale
is in large part for solo horn running
the gamut of poetry and drama. For the
last minute of the five minute finale
the orchestra return with the brooding
and volatile mesmerics of the Romanza.
The work was written for Ifor James
but here is in Tuckwell's masterly hands.
The Searle is
a romantic piece in lightly shimmering
Bergian panoply. It is predominantly
dreamy but with flashes of vigour. The
Aubade was premiered by Dennis
Brain at Aldeburgh in 1955.
Banks was Australian,
not English, but was very much a fixture
of London concerts and broadcasts in
the 1960s. His music in this concerto
is softly dissonant with flashes of
wild belligerence (2:34) finally resolved
in brooding calm. It was written for,
dedicated to and premiered by Barry
Tuckwell who was also the dedicatee
of Bank's Horn Trio.
Nicholas Maw's
single movement Sinfonia is the
longest work here. It was commissioned
by and premiered at the Bath Festival.
For me it recalls the lichen and mist
atmosphere of Frank Bridge's There
is A Willow but there’s the occasional
ecstatic airborne episode of string
writing redolent of Tippett. The horn
solo writing is in thrall to Britten
but there is the added interest of antiphonal
interplay and spatial effect between
the two soloists. No Tuckwell in this
case; it is in fact Alan Civil from
that other Royal family of British horn-players.
The notes are expansive
and useful as you would expect from
Paul Conway.
Horn concertos of the
1960s in language typical of the era
but with more romance than you might
expect.
Rob Barnett
Also available:-
SRCD.276
Don Banks Violin Concerto
SRCD.267
Nicholas Maw Scenes and Arias
SRCD.330
Hoddinott Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2
SRCD.331
Hoddinott Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 5
SRCD.332
Hoddinott Dives & Lazarus
for details
Barry Tuckwell (horn) (Hoddinott; Banks;
Searle) 
