by Ian Zook
Volume 2—Georges Barboteu
For this installment of Horn on Record, we are exploring a recording that features repertoire for a unique and versatile chamber combination—horn and harp.
Our second album review, Cor et Harpe, features performers Georges Barboteu on horn and Lily Laskine on harp, both exemplars of the French tradition and aesthetic. While the album was released on the French label Erato, an actual recording date is not listed or cataloged. The educated assumption is that the recording was made in the early 1970’s. 
This recording includes selections by the well-known hornists and composers Louis-François Dauprat and Frédéric Duvernoy, and two pieces by a less well-known composer, Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. Significantly, this is the first recording of these pieces, and it is also the first recording of any repertoire for horn and harp.
Bochsa was a contemporary of Dauprat and lived in Paris from 1807-1817. He would have undoubtedly known Dauprat through their years together at the Conservatoire de Paris. Bochsa was a concert harpist and prolific composer, with a catalog of over four hundred opus numbers. He also helped to establish the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1821.
The hornist on this recording, Georges Barboteu (1926-2006), was the son of Joseph Barboteu, a professional hornist and professor at the Conservatoire d’Algiers. At nine years old, Georges began studies with his father and later played alongside him in both the Grand Casino in Biarritz, France, and the Radio Orchestra of Algiers. Georges then entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1950, winning the Premiere Prix and the Geneva International Competition in quick succession.
Georges Barboteu held many prestigious appointments, including the solo horn chairs of the Opera Comique and the Orchestre de Paris. He was horn professor at the Conservatoire de Paris for twenty years and a founding member of the Quintette Ars Nova.
We are indebted to Barboteu not just for his consummate artistry in performing and teaching, but also for his contributions to the hornist’s repertoire. He wrote several etude books and composed over forty pieces for both solo horn and horn in combination with other instruments. His recording catalog is extensive and includes a range of concerti and chamber repertoire.
Frequently featured at symposia of the International Horn Society, Barboteu was a member of the Advisory Council from 1976-1979 and recognized as an Honorary Member in 1998.
As a chamber music pairing, horn and harp were a very popular combination for salon music in the early 19th century. The clear and rhythmic articulation of the harp strings, along with the rich and diffuse resonance of its sound, knits seamlessly with the horn. Of course, in the era of these compositions, it was the veiled and varied tones of the natural horn which would have balanced both melodically and texturally with the harp.
While Georges Barboteu is playing valve horn on this album, we are still treated to a light and fluid phrasing that is reminiscent of the vocal natural-horn style. As a French player in the mid-20th Century, we notice a considerable amount of vibrato by modern standards. Yet his sound his quite rich and full with broad articulations and noticeable delicacy in the softer dynamic range.
In the Allegro assai from Duvernoy’s Duexiéme Nocturne, we hear the harp’s present and effective articulations and how these textures provide clarity for the softer articulations of the horn:
In Duaprat’s marvelous Air Écossais Varíe, Op. 22, Barboteu plays with arching lyricism across the phrases and ends with delicate rubato:
Barboteu’s bel canto style and subtle portamento are beautifully captured in the Andante varié from Dauprat’s Sonate pour Harpe avec accompagnement de cor oblige, Op. 3:
Last, the lilting melody composed by N.C. Bochsa in his Fantasie, Op. 72 allows Barboteu to showcase his vocal vibrato and dynamic control across phrases:
Thank you for reading of Horn on Record!
If you would like this vinyl album for yourself, they are available here.
