by Ian Zook
Volume 10—Daniel Bourgue
This month, we are celebrating the luminary French performer and teacher Daniel Bourgue. Regarded as one of the finest soloists of his generation, Bourgue was an exemplar of the French aesthetics of tone and style and was a prolific recording artist. Our featured album, Two Centuries of French Music for Horn, was released in 1974 and includes many repertoire favorites performed with the Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
Daniel Bourgue (1937-2023), born in Avignon, France, was a pupil of Jean Devemy at the Paris Conservatory, and he earned the Premier Prix there in 1959. His biography (provided by the International Horn Society) lists an extensive orchestral career. He maintained a long tenure as principal horn of the Orchestre du Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Paris, from 1964 to 1989, and he was a founding member of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in 1976. He premiered many works for horn, most notably the original solo work from 1971 by Olivier Messiaen that became the Interstellar Call in Des canyons aux étoiles, and the Divertimento by Jean Françaix.
Daniel Bourgue demonstrates a thorough mastery of the works on this album, lending an understated artistry that elevates the pairing of the horn with these original orchestrations. Bourgue allows the timbre of the various orchestral instruments to guide his own tonal palette, as we can hear in the following examples.
Dukas’ Villanelle reigns among our most enduring recital pieces. There are many orchestral colors that we miss with piano accompaniment—the atmospheric tremolo of the violins, the churning thrum of the violas and violins in the interstitial melody, and the woodwinds that dovetail and punctuate the horn’s melody:
Saint-Saëns’ Morceau de Concert is a similarly durable masterpiece, yet hearing the colors and textures of the orchestral scoring breathes life into this standard. Bourgue’s sturdy tempo and nimble execution is made buoyant through the variety of colors provided by the strings and winds:
Near the conclusion of Chabrier’s Larghetto, Bourgue’s clear and precise sound floats easily above the warm and supportive string accompaniment:
Vincent D’Indy’s Andante Cantabile is a seldom-recorded and magical gem! Bourgue tastefully leans into the phrases, evoking a musical atmosphere of nostalgia:
This album certainly serves as a refreshing review of many standard pieces, impeccably performed by Daniel Bourgue. We hope you’ve enjoyed listening to excerpts from Two Centuries of French Music for Horn, and thank you for reading Horn on Record!
