Horn on Record
by Ian Zook
Volume 18 — Edmond Leloir
As readers of this column may agree, there are many joys in listening to and researching recordings of the past. It is that much more rewarding when there are unexpected surprises, such as we get to share together this month! I had sourced an album of Belgian hornist Edmond Leloir performing Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70, certainly one of our most celebrated standards of the repertoire. What I didn’t realize until I read the reverse album jacket and listened to the record, is that the famed conductor Ernest Ansermet orchestrated Schumann’s piece, and Edmond Leloir serves as soloist. Released in 1958 on London Records, this recording features L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Ansermet.
Briefly, Edmond Leloir (1912-2003) was born in Brussels, Belgium and made his performance career in Switzerland. He performed in Bern, Winterthur, and Zürich, before attaining the position of solo horn of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR). He retired from the orchestra in 1977, having invested 31 years leading the horn section. Additionally, Leloir was very well known as an editor and publisher of a vast catalog of music, rediscovering numerous out-of-print or otherwise forgotten works. He was recognized as an Honorary Member of the IHS in 1983. For a much more detailed account of his life and contributions, I recommed reading his listing on the IHS website along with Jeroen Billiet’s fascinating dissertation Brave Belgians of the Belle Époque: a study in the late-romantic Ghent horn playing tradition.
To understand why Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro would be orchestrated, it’s valuable to learn about the interests and influence of Ernest Ansermet. A math professor early in his career, he transitioned into conducting, cutting his teeth with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. He founded the OSR in 1918 and then focused the orchestra on interpretations of the difficult contemporary music of that era—works by Stravinsky, Dutilleux, Honegger, Prokofiev, and Britten, among others. Anserment did have a penchant for composition, and also arranged Debussy’s piano duo Six épigraphes antiques. It is likely that Anserment arranged Schumann’s work as a gift to Leloir, as their relationship was rooted in mutual musical respect and admiration.
Schumann’s use of contrast in Adagio and Allegro is evident. He drew inspiration from the fictitious characters Eusabius and Florestan, paeans of the Romantic ideal in both his compositions and in his writing as editor of the New Periodical for Music (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik). Writer Marie C. Miller addresses this topic: “Eusabius was the lyrical, the quiet introspective. Florestan was the more flamboyant, impetuous personality. Florestan, the truer Romantic of the pair, often displayed a mercurial state of mind and quickly changing personality.”
The piece opens with a tender, melancholy horn melody supported in this context by a mixture of arco and pizzicato strings with the oboe answering in dialogue:
As the Adagio section ends, Leloir effectively blends his very broad tone into the cello section countermelody. His launch into the Allegro is vigourous and full-throated, leading to a cadential apex in the strings that is much more reminiscent of Strauss in orchestration:
The transitional section, perhaps another pleading moment from Eusabius, really leans forward in tempo. The string section provides a churning sustain of sound as a noticeable sonic departure from the usual left-hand offbeats in the piano accompaniment:
Known for it’s endurance demands related to phrase length and range, Adagio and Allegro orchestrated as a concert piece is nearly of concerto-like dimensions. Leloir’s playing overall is quite heroic to match. He siezes upon this sonic challenge and truly rides above the weight of the orchestra throughout, even turning it up a notch through the ending:
In summary, it is interesting to listen to this reconception of a treasured staple in our repertoire. A true piece of chamber music, Adagio and Allegro rewards the duo who can malleably merge tones, phrasing, and tempi to give a voice to something unique. Perhaps something is lost in the horn’s necessary projection here with orchestra, or for the need for all involved to follow the interpretation of a conductor rather than listening and responding to one another. In either case, it provides ample room for discussion. Thanks for reading Horn on Record!
The Ambitious Amateur
by Marty Schlenker
Dear Fellow Amateurs,
Several columns ago, I mentioned that John Ericson’s writing on horn embouchure had improved my understanding of the utility of keeping the corners of one’s lips tight, so that the correct balance could be achieved between “pucker” and “smile.” I renewed my focus on where I was setting my corners, generally narrowing them.
Then, I saw this mind-bending short video of Marc Papeghin playing his horn transcription of the finale of Sibelius’ fabulous Violin Concerto, posted to the “Horn People” Facebook group on August 30. As if the virtuosity wasn't enough, his entire face barely seems to move. His corners don’t show signs of deliberate positioning—they barely seem to be working at all. How I would love to know what’s going on inside the mouthpiece to enable the rest of Marc to appear so relaxed!
Question answered…? Matthew Haislip posted a short but fascinating video to the “Horn People” Facebook group on September 12 showing an embouchure view from inside the mouthpiece. In an earlier column, I stated a hunch that I needed to make my aperture smaller so that air would pass through it faster and I would gain range, flexibility, resonance, etc. This video appears to reinforce that idea, as the player’s aperture appears quite narrow, but Dr. Haislip’s comments about how to achieve this seem counterintuitive to me. To work excessively to manipulate the lip surface inside the mouthpiece, he says, is to fight the horn’s general tendencies.
If I had more practice time, maybe I’d have a more settled perspective. Please contact me with your thoughts on and experiences with this at marty.schlenker@cavaliers.org.
Your servant and kindred spirit,
Marty Schlenker, Amateur Hornist
Composer Spotlight—Odette Gartenlaub
by Caiti Beth McKinney
Hello all!
Happy Fall! This month I would love to share with you the music of French composer Odette Gartenlaub (1922-2014). Her work for horn and piano, Pour le Cour (1968) is quickly becoming a staple in our repertoire, and her accomplishments during her lifetime are well worthy of remembrance.
Not much is now known about Odette’s early years, other than the fact that she was an incredibly skilled pianist at a young age, winning a first-place performance award at the Paris Conservatoire when she was only fourteen. She continued studying at this prestigious institution until 1941, learning composition from Darius Milhaud, Olivier Messiaen, and others; however, in 1940, the Nazis occupied Paris and began enforcing strict bans aimed at anyone of Jewish heritage. As a result, Gartenlaub was no longer able to continue her musical education. After the war, Odette once again earned professional success and acclaim, becoming the sixth woman to ever win the famous Prix de Rome competition in composition. She even went on to become a professor at the Conservatoire in 1959, the very school which had once been forced to bar her access.
Pour le Cour follows in the grand tradition of French compositions for horn, with great technical challenges interspersed with lyrical lines. The piece begins with an eerie extended passage for horn alone, with the eventual entrance of an equally spooky piano accompaniment, all leading to a long, dramatic lip trill which propels the work into a frenzied second section. Filled with large leaps, glissandi, and movement up and down the horn’s register, this piece shows off just about every skill a horn player can possess, and it makes a great challenge for anyone looking to tackle such a satisfying work. Enjoy!
Step One-Two-Three
by Fokke van Heel
During my career as a player and teacher, I have increasingly come to realize how important and essential it is to involve my entire body in my technique. Among other things, I have benefitted greatly from Alexander Technique lessons to gain this awareness. Our instrument needs a balance between strength and flexibility, and in order to continue to develop myself, it was, and continues to be, necessary to try to explore that balance. Moreover, it makes practicing extra interesting and fun.
Below is a simple basic exercise that can be the start of new discoveries every day. Enjoy!
‘Step One-Two-Three’ – an exercise for all
In your practice room, you may want to add the following exercise, applicable to all levels of playing:
Step 1. Play a long tone, preferably a mezzo-forte note in the middle range.
Step 2. Ask yourself during this tone: “Can I relax anything in my body?”
The shoulders may be the easiest body part to begin with:
Your shoulders relax…great!
But…your intonation drops and your tone gets softer…not so great.
Step 3. Restore Intonation and Dynamic
Restore the intonation by lowering your soft palate a bit using the vowel E.
Restore the dynamic by intensifying the airstream.
Result: same good tone as in step 1, same pitch, same dynamic, but more relaxed shoulders and embouchure.
Simply said, you changed the energy in your playing: same quantity of energy, different quality. This is not the energy from the squeezing in your lips and the tension in your shoulders (step 1), but energy from more effort in your diaphragm and from singing in the back of your oral cavity.
What happened?
Obviously releasing the tension in your shoulders (or, in this exercise, any other part of your body) was helpful in step 1 to obtain a controlled and stable tone. But in step 2, we learn that these ‘helpful’ shoulders also cause tension in your lips and in your diaphragm, otherwise the pitch and dynamic would not have dropped.
Now both diaphragm and lips are more relaxed, but also less powerful.
To regain the steady tone you had in step 1, you need the new activity in step 3:
- In the embouchure: muscles towards and in your cheeks will be activated by saying the E-vowel in the soft palate. Challenged by the faster airstream, they take over the work of your central lip muscles.
- In the diaphragm: new, subtly different muscles will be activated to create a faster, less forced airstream.
Both new activities take a while to become strong and energetic enough, but when this has become your normal way of playing then this is your new step 1 and you can start over again…a never ending voyage of discovery!
A couple of tips:
- In a way, step 1 is the most important. Play your note like you always do, almost without thinking.
- Do not already compensate in step 2, let it happen and listen.
- If you find it hard to relax specific muscles (e.g. your buttocks or in your pelvis area), then first give those muscles even more tension, then relax, and now you feel where to relax even a bit further.
- Since, in step 3, you are using more of the vowel E, your sound may initially get too bright and lose a bit of warmth. After a while (day/days), you will regain the balance in your embouchure (between central and decentralized), and your sound will be back, with more overtones as a result of the relaxation.
- Direct the faster airstream to your soft palate rather than to your lips.
- At first, this exercise needs one long tone, but it can also be done in approx. 4 seconds.
- Once happy with step 3 (same pitch, same dynamic), try to stay in that position and challenge the new muscles. Make sure to take many pauses!
- Preferably, do not do this exercise before a performance but rather at the end of the day. Give your developing muscles time to recover overnight.
If you do not like to reflect on your playing through this exercise, I completely understand; it comes with temporary instability and your embouchure will change.
However, with curiosity you will discover and improve endlessly!
Fokke van Heel has served as principal horn in the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Netherlands Chamber Orchestra since 1998. He was professor at the Artez Conservatory in Zwolle and is currently teaching at the Sweelinck Academy of the Conservatory of Amsterdam. He has been a member of the faculty of the Prisma Festival in British Columbia, Canada, since 2015.
Research to Resonance—Direction Beats Location
by Katy Carnaggio
Sometimes, the only thing standing between you and your best performance is asking, “What if I could?”
Each day, we carry assumptions about what we can and can’t do, often shaped by past performances, insecurities, or judgments. These thoughts can quietly hold us back, keeping us in a box of “I’ve never done that before” or “I’ve never been great at that.” But what if you flipped the script?
Each day, separate yourself from your memories and judgments about who you are, the sounds you make, or what you can do. Instead, look to the part of you that simply can. Ask yourself, “What if I could? And if I could, how would I?” What would that look and feel like today?
- If I could play with a massive, ringing sound, what would I do to create that?
- If I could stay cool, calm, and collected under pressure, what would I do in that moment?
We often have such fixed ideas of what our abilities should be that we become disconnected from what they could be. But when you assume, today, that anything is possible—that you can—you start finding ways to make that assumption true.
And if you can train yourself to walk closer and closer toward that person who can, where you are matters far less than where you’re headed. Direction is more important than location. So, choose a direction and walk towards the you that can!
Chamber Music Corner—Rimsky-Korsakov’s Quintet
by Layne Anspach
Hello musicians!
The next quintet for piano and winds that we will explore is Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Quintet in B-flat major for Piano and Winds (1876). As a well-known composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s (1844-1908) biography is easily accessible, and so I will only highlight a limited biographical background. He was part of “The Five,” a group of Russian composers which was strongly against formal training. Rimsky-Korsakov derailed his relationship with “The Five” when he accepted a position at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He wrote a wide range of works and composed several notable transcriptions and arrangements.
In 1876, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the Quintet in B-flat major for a competition, in addition to his Sextet for strings. While the sextet received an award, the quintet did not fare as well. Rimsky-Korsakov, as he noted in his autobiography, claimed that the musicians assigned to perform his work were inferior to those who were assigned to the winning piece. To back up his claim, he noted that a later performance of the quintet at a St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society concert was to “the pleasure of the audience.”
The first movement of the Quintet is marked Allegro con brio and is in sonata form. The movement starts with a repetitive eighth note pattern in the piano with bassoon playing the melody. After an ensemble tutti, the piano carries on alone, building momentum. The second theme features winds alone, eventually incorporating the piano. The development features the first theme in various keys, first with horn then followed by other winds. The recapitulation begins as expected, but the second theme is altered, featuring only the piano, then the bassoon enters to replace the flute. The Poco piu mosso pushes the coda to an energetic conclusion.
The second movement, Andante, features a typical Russian compositional technique where a melodic phrase is repeated while changing the harmonic background. The horn presents the theme throughout while the winds and piano provide the harmonic variations. This technique results in a fair amount of repetition, but a close listen to the changes is a rewarding experience. In this movement, Rimsky-Korsakov incorporates an attractive fugue in b-flat minor.
The third and final movement, Rondo: Allegretto, is supported by a bassoon ostinato throughout which gives a bouncing, playful feel. Atypical of the other movements, Rimsky-Korsakov includes a lengthy fugue for piano alone. An Agitato follows, led by the clarinet and then horn, adding a brooding character which contrasts the more playful sections. If there wasn’t already enough happening in this movement, Rimsky-Korsakov features cadenzas for all voices except bassoon. The bassoon brightens the mood with the final return of the primary theme. Piu vivo and the subsequent Vivace push the entire work to a dramatic conclusion carried by the piano.
The reference recording features hornist Radovan Vlatković.
Hornscapes CD (Parte 2)
por Ricardo Matosinhos
Uau, setembro passou num instante! Agradeço a todos que contribuíram para a minha campanha de crowdfunding, que superou largamente o objetivo inicial.
Nasci em Portugal e divido as minhas atividades musicais entre o ensino, a performance e a composição. O chamado "triângulo da plenitude musical", tal como descrito por Douglas Hill, é também complementado pela investigação. Consequentemente, várias das minhas composições são inspiradas em aspetos pedagógicos. Sou também autor de vários artigos e livros, incluindo um livro infantil que adaptei para um musical. A criatividade está sempre presente, e, no fim de contas, as minhas atividades são sustentadas por um polígono com uma infinidade de lados.
Neste CD estão incluídas seis peças compostas por mim. Tocar a minha própria música é sempre especial. Quando era estudante, comecei a compor logo que iniciei o estudo da trompa, mas apenas para outros instrumentos, principalmente para piano. Demorei dez anos até ter a coragem de compor uma peça original para trompa (os meus 12 estudos jazzísticos), e desde então tem sido uma jornada fantástica. Há três peças a solo (Pastoral, Mirage e Improviso) que são opus consecutivos, mas apresentam diferentes carateres, já que foram compostas para diferentes intérpretes. Depois, há duas obras para tuba wagneriana e piano, Siegfried e Fafnir, com um caráter heróico, e a Song Without Words, que apresenta este instrumento dos deuses de Valhalla com um toque jazzístico. Esta última peça foi estreada por Robert Palmer no IHS 51, em Ghent, e aqueles que assistiram ao IHS 54 talvez se lembrem de me ter ouvido tocar esta peça numa trompa. Há ainda uma peça para trompa e piano, Song for Emma, que foi escrita para a trompista e compositora australiana Emma Gregan, como forma de agradecimento pela sua aceitação em escrever a peça Rose-Colored Glasses.
Com o lançamento deste CD para trompa (tuba wagneriana) e piano, decidi criar um pequeno concurso online para os subscritores da "Horn and More", a newsletter da International Horn Society. Já ofereci dois CDs na edição de setembro a Veronika Redfern e Wendy Anne Bartel. Se não foirápido o suficiente, ainda há esperança! Vou oferecer mais dois CDs às duas primeiras pessoas que responderem corretamente às perguntas fornecidas nas edições de outubro e novembro. Se foi um dos vencedores da edição de setembro, pode competir novamente, mas, se ficar nos dois primeiros lugares, o CD será atribuído ao próximo da lista.
