The Guildhall
School of Music and Drama is celebrating its hundred and twenty-fifth
birthday this year and this disc attests to the fact with
a “School of 2004” disc, three of whose alumni have been appointed
to prestigious positions in British orchestras during 2005.
The Guildhall’s Horn school is clearly in rude health and
this soloist and ensemble disc serves renewed notice of its
standing.
Professor of Horn
at the Guildhall for over twenty years – a period which has
overlapped his status as principal of the LPO – it’s Richard
Bissill whose presence looms the largest as exponent (horn
and piano) as well as composer. It makes him seem a
long-bearded veteran but amazingly Bissill is still only forty-five.
His Corpendium features the Ensemble in an arresting
and rhythmically catchy piece written for this disc. It thrives
on contrasts and on superior unison playing. A decade ago
he wrote Lone Horn Call and Charge for solo horn and
here he plays it himself, exploring testing lower register
work and a quick lip.
Time and Space
features Bissill at the piano accompanying the formidable
two-team line–up of David Pyatt and Hugh Seenan. Written in
2001 this has a strong role for the un-subservient piano but
an even starrier one for the two horns, which get progressively
looser and jazzier and explore some excellent filmic regions
(is it me or is that a reminiscence from Fiddler on the
Roof?) and a mini chase sequence between the horns. The
filmic element should come as no surprise at all since Bissill
has written for television documentaries as well as test pieces
for competitions of his own instrument. Finally there is Three
Portraits written for eight horns and once more played
by the talented and youthful Guildhall Ensemble. This was
written in 1990 for the British Horn Society and is a rich
and warmly hued work, fizzing with an ear for sonority and
for tunes. The opening portrait is On Vacation and
is a kind of Heldenleben-meets-Star Wars affair full of chatty
personality, whilst the second sports a melody of almost Bernstein-like
proportions and one that slowly emerges with real distinction.
The finale is a jaunty high-spirited romp. This is a delightful
work and a splendid addition to the horn ensemble repertoire.
Amongst examples of Bissill the composer
and exponent we have some examples of classics of horn writing
and one or two adaptations. The Schumann is played with legato
lyricism and hunting brio by Jeffrey Bryant and he gives life
to the Saint-Saëns Romance which is taken over from the Cello
Suite. Andrew Clark and pianist Caroline Palmer tackle the
Cherubini sonata with its middle range explorations and virtuosic
demands – it was written in 1894 as a Paris test piece. Clark
plays on a natural horn whose woollier tone sits well here,
as does his nimble playing; does Palmer hint at a fortepiano?
Jonathan Lipton
plays Bach, in an unlikely sounding arrangement derived from
the third Cello Suite. If hornists have to colonise these
works than they’d better all be as good as Lipton. Dennis
Brain loved to espouse the Dukas, which is here in the confident
hands of Hugh Seenan - who meets all its very considerable
demands with aplomb. Eugene Bozza’s is a name that crops up
frequently in these circles and his 1941 piece is an imaginative
and testing one, giving echo effects to the player to negotiate
and taking him down to the sulphurous depths of his instrument
before encouraging him with some La Chasse hunting
fanfares.
Recorded over
the period of sixteen months this can take its place nicely
as calling card for the Guildhall, showcase for Bissill, locus
for some eminent colleagues to display their wares, and encouragement
for experimentation in the repertoire – also indeed as Cala’s
latest entrant in their generous Horn and Brass series that
documents the London scene.
Jonathan Woolf
Timothy Thorpe principal;
Ensemble directed by Hugh Seenan
