I got interested in composition at a very early age, sketching the first pieces at 14 years old. I then focused on my horn studies and only later, when I started teaching the horn, the seed of creativity planted years ago started to flourish motivated by the lack of repertoire in some pedagogical areas of the instrument.

In my compositions, you can listen to influences from jazz to world music, including sonorities that are similar to Arkady Shilkloper, a horn player whose work I admire very much. I had some lessons with the jazz saxophone player Mario Santos, and this experience played a major role in my style of composition. In my pedagogical compositions, my experience as a teacher is also present, where on a daily basis I observe the students’ difficulties. Therefore I create challenges that allow them to overcome those difficulties or at least to start to tame this wild instrument.

The etudes were the first area I approached. Etudes are essential to the very basis of any horn player's technical and interpretative formation. Unlike what the name suggests, etudes are meant to be studied However, students tend to forget their value and prefer only to practice pieces. That made me think of a way to encourage students to practice them. To make it more interesting, I used different sonorities in order to keep them interested. If we need to practice every single day, let’s at least have some fun with it!

All my pedagogical compositions have a common idea: no one can evolve if everything is too easy or too difficult. We need to find a proper balance that allows evolution. A piece that is difficult or very difficult in some aspects, should be easy or even very easy on others. Several of my compositions might look too difficult on first approach, but once you look closely you’ll see that’s not so. There are just some elements that make them look harder than they really are.

I wrote 50 etudes in 4 books, two of them dedicated to Arkady Shilkloper. There’s a low horn book dedicated to Sarah Willis and a very curious book that includes 13 etudes inspired by good/bad luck situations. Nevertheless, horn playing has nothing to do with good or bad luck; it is all about practicing.

I became so interested in the subject of etudes that my master dissertation was a “Selected and annotated bibliography of etudes published between 1950 and 2011”.

Thinking about the younger ones, I compiled 25 children’s songs adapted to the horn range for both F and Bb horn. This way, beginners can now get started on the horn with a very easy book, on a limited range (f-a’), and with an auditive reference since the students already know most of these songs. Duo versions (teacher/student) and easy etudes complement this publication.

The scales were not forgotten: in my book “I like to practice scales!” I present some exercises with a step-by-step methodology but with a different approach, focusing on the practice and not on the theory, like the process of learning your mother tongue. I also have an almost finished colossal exercises project called horn365, but you will hear more about that soon…

In the chamber music domain, I wrote 5 funny suites for horn and piano for the basic and intermediate level with great emphasis on rhythmical elements but without, intentionally, exploring too much the range. Two of these suites were written for the low range, helping to fill this repertoire gap for intermediate level students interested in improving their low range or those temporarily with a limited high range due to an orthodontic treatment.

Man shall not live on bread alone, and horn players shall not only play in the high range! The horn is a very capable instrument. It presents its challenges, but I believe it is not explored enough through composition since it has a very broad range, with an incredible low range. Students and composers have neglected this. The extended techniques, when used in an idiomatic manner also allow a whole new world of possibilities. Being a horn player and knowing my instrument very well allows me to use a broad palette of effects in my compositions, always keeping in mind the highest yield with the minimum effort.

My compositional process is free, sometimes chaotic; but I believe that creativity and chaos run side by side. If we travel the same path every day and do the exact same thing every day, there’s no room to be creative. Choosing an alternative path always pays off, even if it is a dead end - on the path you have the chance to discover the inspiration for the next piece. For me, even more important is the audacity of trying, because creative changes only occur through human action. Inspiration comes to me from different experiences, even if they don’t have anything to do with music, often 5 minutes before leaving home, during a car trip or other unfriendly compositional situation. Instead of wasting time complaining, I pick up my mobile phone and record it or write it down on a piece of paper seizing the spontaneity of the moment. I go back later to those ideas. Somehow it works - the reviews from the public and performers have been frankly positive. Some of my works have already received distinctions at national and international competitions. As I didn’t attend any specific composition course, I feel I have the advantage of not needing to follow a specific compositional style or having to use a determinate compositional technique simply because I have to. Music comes to me, and I simply write it down on paper, having fun during the process. I only ask the performers to read what I literally wrote in black and white and to add colors through their interpretation, offering music to the public, but, above all, having fun while doing it.

Ricardo Matosinhos’ website: http://www.ricardomatosinhos.com

Caravan from the 7 Horn Duos

https://soundcloud.com/rmatosinhos/7-horn-duos-by-ricardo-matosinhos-no4-caravan

Etudes - Ricardo Matosinhos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHMHoJacxV4

Low Horn Suite (no.1) for Horn and Piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akj0rPBHdE0

Ricardo Matosinhos was born in 1982.

He studied horn with professor Ivan Kučera at the Esproarte (1994-2000), Mirandela, Portugal and with professor Bohdan Sebestik at the Superior School of Music and Performing Arts (2000-2004) in Oporto, Portugal. Ricardo graduated from ESMAE in 2004, where he received the Student of the Year prize in 2003/2004. In 2012, Ricardo presented his master dissertation entitled “Annotated Bibliography of Horn Etudes published Between 1950-2011” at Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Curiosity about the possibilities of the horn in jazz led him to take lessons with saxophonist Mário Santos. This experience would play a major role in his style of composition. In 1998 he won a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which he kept until his graduation. Ricardo taught several masterclasses and workshops all over Portugal and also in the Czech Republic. He played as guest with orchestras including Filarmonia das Beiras Orchestra, Musicare Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra do Norte, Remix Orchestra, Remix Ensemble and Orquestra Nacional do Porto.

Ricardo wrote several teaching materials for horn but also some music works for other instruments.

His music works were recognized in several composition contests both in Portugal and abroad.

Ricardo is currently teaching at the Academia de Música de Costa Cabral (Oporto, Portugal) and attending the PhD program in Music and Musicology at the University of Évora.
He is a member of the International Horn Society.

My Two Big Motivations

The other day, when I announced that I would open HMG, my own studio specializing in brass instrument repair and making instrument parts, I received an unexpected offer. It was to contribute an article about the opening of the studio and musical instrument manufacturing. I humbly accepted the offer, but then had to figure out what exactly I should write about. I thought it over and decided to make it about the source, explaining why I started learning musical instrument manufacturing and opened the studio.

I guess it was in 2005 or 2006, when Johannes (the Meister of Helmut Finke where I worked at the time) and I were driving on the Autobahn at night. I was in the passenger’s seat. We were heading home from something, but I do not recall if it was a concert or workshop. There was not much traffic, and the Autobahn that runs in the countryside is pitch-black, goes through the woods, passes the fields, and then goes into the woods again. Our beam of light pierced the vast darkness making me realize how anxious I would feel if our car suddenly broke down there.

We talked about everything including the job, vocational training school, the German language, and Japan. After a brief silence, I casually asked him a question: “By the way, why did the company hire me?” Looking back now, I realize it was a strange question and surely he must have been puzzled to have been asked it.

I was expecting a specific answer: “Because you are talented and showed high potential during the trial period." However, his actual answer was this: “Shohei, because you showed motivation. Besides, you are a good person.”

I thought, “Okay...motivation. So I was hired because I am good-natured.” I was not fully convinced and to be honest, was rather disappointed. After that, I completely forgot about this conversation for a while. It was only about a decade ago, but it feels like the distant past. I wonder if it means my last decade has been fulfilling.

Both my working life and private life have been exciting and thrilling. I've enjoyed tons of new things happening one after the other while also worrying, struggling, and going through hard times as well. To make a long story short, it was an emotional roller coaster. One day, I was on cloud nine, but the next day, I hit rock bottom. Though it is tough going through this, it has naturally become my way of life. Rather than being afraid of risks and becoming defensive, I chose to understand the risks, get prepared, and then give it a try. If I would describe it in baseball terms, I would swing on a full count, because a swinging strikeout is much better than a called strikeout. It's great when you nail it, but it's more miserable when you fail just watching. (Rest assured, the approach I take with my client's instruments is of course much different. I always handle them with great care).

Sometimes, things were too absurd and hard to take, and I felt like giving everything up. However, I managed to pull myself together because of my motivation. My motivation is extremely fundamental and simple:  “Craftsmanship and Music.” These are my two biggest pleasures. They are unlimited and will never dry up. This motivation is the fountainhead that has pushed me to this very day. It has allowed me to enjoy experiencing things that other people would not even try. Speaking of motivation, this kind of motivation (motive in life) and the other motivation (eagerness to work), which Johannes spoke of when describing me in the car, have a slightly different meaning, but they come from the same source.

The meaning of the name HMG comes from “Community by Craftsmanship and Music.” HMG is an abbreviation of the German words “Handwerks- und Musikgemeinschaft.” To be precise, “Handwerk” means manual industry or handwork, and HMG’s primary business at this point is repairing brass instruments and making instrument parts. However, becoming a manufacturer is the company’s long-term plan, so I thought that translating the German word as “craftsmanship” suits my company best.

Due to my nature of thinking that everything comes from a source, I always try to remember when, where, and how my motivation originated.

I guess it happened when I was in early elementary school. My father took my two-year-older brother and me to a hobby shop. My father bought my brother a model Lamborghini Countach and bought me a Ferrari F40. Those were the first models we ever got. We built them without painting, but for some reason my father painted my brother’s Lamborghini body only in dark blue. It made his model look far superior, and I remember feeling jealous. While my brother did not show much interest in models, I really loved it and became a “model boy” since that day. I managed to build them however awkwardly, but painting was too difficult for me to do by myself. Every night after dinner, I used to grab the model workbox, go to Father’s side, and beg him to paint it. He was known to have a few drinks with dinner, so I wonder how he felt when I was at his side pestering him to hurry up. In his room, I would sit right next to him staring at his hands as he painted my car. During the time, we hardly talked, and the room was silent. I now have a son in the second grade, so I can imagine that my father must have felt happy.

It was not long before I learned how to paint and started making things by myself. I had always made random things in my spare time until I found my path in wind instrument repair. I don't know why, but I stopped building models when I started studying repair. I imagine it's because I like doing work with my hands and repairs that satisfied that desire to build models. The world of instrument repair is profound, and it is an endless quest. Deep in my heart I feel that my fascination for producing things traces back to the indescribable joy and pleasure of “craft” when I was immersed in building models as a boy.

So where did my motivation for music come from?

I met music, especially wind instruments, at a brass band club in junior high school. They gave a performance at the club introduction for new students. I love it! I joined the club right away and devoted myself to the club until I graduated from high school. I haven't done much playing in recent years, but music appreciation is my biggest hobby. Needless to say, I experienced joy and pleasure of playing music as a student. Recently when I listen to music, I am often greatly moved by parts that in the past I would have barely felt anything for, probably because I am older. Among the various genres of music I listen to, classical music especially makes me feel that unknown territory, vastly spreading out in front of me as if it were boundless. The forest of classical music is deep. There is always music that moves you for the first time, but the depth of classical music is immeasurable, you can always find new parts in that music in which to enshroud yourself. Another great aspect is that just one piece alone will always have new exciting interpretations and fine performances. That is an unlimited pleasure.

These two motivations naturally sprung like spring water and fascinated me. They made me walk toward "a musical instrument craftsman", a dream job that is a harmony of craftsmanship and music. 

As I wrote earlier, I tend to think of things from a source, and I am sincere about what I do. Although there are various ways to look at it religiously, I personally believe we only live once. You have many opportunities, but you will never have the same opportunity again. Staying true to myself in this regard has made who I am now.

Before I conclude, let me talk about horns a little bit. I love the Vienna horn, and I especially love the music of Mahler and Brahms. That may be why I cannot ignore the existence of the conspicuous Vienna horn. There are probably many fans of the instrument itself, so I'd rather not talk about its charm here. Instead, I would like to incorporate the essence of this admirable coelacanth into my instruments in the future.

Horns have very beautiful tone colors, and I think it is only natural to chase after them. However, I also feel that horn players tend to be overly obsessed with them. Even though there is no doubt that tone colors are one significant element in playing music, it does not mean that the tone colors themselves are equal to music.

I once attended a recital when a distinguished horn player came to Japan. I had the player’s CDs and used to listen to them as my favorite discs. The recital started with beautiful tone colors, and the player demonstrated excellent stability and created beautifully uniform tone colors on this difficult-to-play instrument. However, believe it or not, I fell asleep. I think this actually happened because I was bored rather than because I was feeling comfortable and relaxed.

The beauty of tone colors is important, but I think the diversity of tone colors is more important.

If you study acoustics a little bit, you will learn that a feature of brass instruments is how the high-order harmonics increase as you play from pp to ff. Thus, the tone quality changes with its volume. Making full use of this feature, you can shade within a phrase and express vivid musical scene changes. From this point of view, the Vienna horn has an enormous advantage. Unfortunately, I have never seen data such as “The Change of Component and Volume of Harmonics Caused by Increase and Decrease of the Sound Volume of Vienna Horns” in numbers or graphs, so I cannot definitively conclude this. But based on the sound, I can easily imagine that the component and volume of harmonics change proportionately with the increase and decrease of the sound volume.

If I say that this is the charm of the F-Horn, the B-Horn’s bright sound is another great charm. Today, the double horns with both F and B keys are getting more and more popular, and those two keys with two distinctive characteristics tend to be put together in one when it is possible. It is realistic in a way, but when you think of it, it is a shame to do it. If HMG manages to manufacture musical instruments in the future, I will try to craft my first horn to make the most of having two keys. That is my view at this time.

Lastly, I deeply appreciate Mr. Nobuaki Fukukawa who gave me this opportunity.

November 2nd, 2016, Osaka

Shohei Yonekura
HMG Brass Instrument Technique
1-13-4 3F., Ichioka, Minato Ward, Osaka City, 552-0012
hmghorns@gmail.com

English translation: Jonathan Hammill

The beginning

Trompas Lusas is a Portuguese horn quartet, founded in 2010, based in the Porto area in the North of Portugal. The project was born out of a friendship of some years. We went to the same school, Artave, playing together regularly in Philharmonic bands, and later in orchestras. For years we thought about forming a horn quartet. We had great pleasure playing chamber music, and we could do that with friends. In 2010 we had our first concert, the Schumann Konzertstück for 4 horns, in Spain with the Orquestra Sinfonica da Cidade de Pontevedra. This fantastic work was a huge challenge for a group that was just starting out, but the rehearsals that followed and the result of the concert gave us the motivation it continue with the project. Five years later, in 2015 we played the Konzertstück again in a few more orchestras.

About my Colleagues

My colleagues in the Trompas Lusas are freelance musicians who collaborate on a regular basis with various Portuguese orchestras. One of these is the Orquestra Sinfonico do Porto, of which I have been a member since 2000. They are also active teachers, teaching in some of the principal schools in this region of the country. Bruno Rafael teaches at the Guimaraes Academy of Music, the University of Minho, and the Escola Profissional de Musica in Viana do Castelo; he is also a member of the Orquestra de Guimaraes. We have been colleagues for 23 years. Besides our passion for the horn, we share a passion for football (soccer), and for the same club: Sporting Clube de Portugal! Nuno Costa teaches at the Conservatory in Vale do Sousa, the Escola Profissional de Musica and Academy of Espinho, and is a member of the Orquestra de Guimaraes. He is multi-talented, as he plays both low horn and high horn equally well; he is also responsible for maintaining a balanced budget of the group’s accounts! Hugo Sousa teaches at the Vila Real Regional Conservatory, the Music Academy Sociedade Vizense, and the Vila Verde Music Academy. He is the youngest member of the Trompas Lusas. As a young person he studied with me, and is without a doubt one of the most talented students I have had the opportunity to work with. A great low horn specialist, he is a very secure musician. Aside from music, he has a passion for radical sports, especially downhill mountain biking!

Musical Inspirations

There are various excellent groups that have inspired various generations of horn players, like: the American Horn Quartet (AHQ), the Budapest Festival Horn Quartet, Leipzig Horn Quartet, Berlin Philharmonic Horn Quartet, and the Deutsche Naturhorn Solisten. But, like most horn players of my generation, my first great reference in horn quartets was the AHQ. In 1992 I was 13 years old and had started serious study of the horn, when some older colleagues let me listen to the AHQ’s first CD. I was amazed at the virtuosity and technical cohesion of the group, the sonorous equilibrium, and the fantastic repertoire. Every new CD by the AHQ was anticipated with great enthusiasm. I think that the work that the AHQ developed remains as a reference for anyone who wants to have success in a horn quartet. On one hand they introduced fantastic works that were unknown to a larger public, and on the other hand enlarged the repertoire with excellent new compositions and exciting arrangements. In this field the role of Kerry Turner is tremendous.

There are also horn players who are international references and are very important for us, like Hermann Baumann, Radovan Vlatkovic, Ab Koster, Nury Guarnaschelli, and Javier Bonet. They have a lot of experience and are fantastic pedagogues. Many times they have given us advice and helped us try to be a better group.

Project Objectives

The Trompas Lusas have two big objectives to develop:

1. Regular concert activity, performing original works for horn quartet and expanding the repertoire with new compositions.
2. Pedagogic activities promoting the horn and encouraging study of the instrument. Since we are teachers as well as active horn players, the pedagogical aspect was always important.

Projects

1. Introduce new original repertoire

The Trompas Lusas have presented concerts regularly in Portugal and abroad. The group has played in Portugal, Spain, England, Germany, and Finland.

The original repertoire for 4 horns is very diverse in style and has been a real discovery for us and for the public in general. The themes for our concerts have been varied, normally based on original works for horn quartet. Every year we add a new program to our repertoire using a different country as the theme. We compile repertoire from composers from that country; in this way we can bring the music and sounds of these countries in a more complete way. So far we have presented programs dedicated to Portugal, Germany, and Russia. Next year we will present a program dedicated to “British Music for Horn Quartet” with original works by James W. Langley, Frank Cordell, and Andrew Downes, and some arrangements of works by William Byrd and Henry Purcell, among others. The group gives special attention to executing works with natural horns. Though we don’t consider ourselves specialists, we think it diversifies the concerts and sonority of the group. It is interesting for the public to get to know the instrument that is the ancestor to the modern horn, and have an opportunity to appreciate the rich and always vibrant sonority of the natural horn.

2. Make new commissions

We also have a commitment to expand the repertoire of original compositions for this formation. For this reason the Trompas Lusas have commissioned works from various composers. We have already premiered many works by Portuguese composers as well as composers from the U.S. and Brazil. The reaction of the public to the new works has been very good. We are very satisfied with the results - they are quality works that have given us challenges and are indisputable additions to the already existing original works for horn quartet. In order to make these new compositions more accessible to other groups and students in general, we created, in collaboration with AVA Editions, the “Trompas Lusas Collection”. At this time works are available from Kerry Turner, Sergio Azevedo and Liduino Pitombeira, compositions that are recorded on our CD “The Eternal City”.

3. Collaborations with other artists

A horn quartet is very versatile and can perform with other artists. There are many possibilities, from adding more hornists and making an ensemble to playing with a horn soloist, with organ, with percussion, with tuba, with a choir, with electronics, etc. The possibilities are many and surprising. I am referring to original repertoire. They are possibilities that any horn quartet should take advantage of and enjoy. It is important to diversify and always try to innovate and surprise the public, as well as to give a different sonority and dimension to the group. In Trompas Lusas we aim to do this regularly through concerts with organ, tuba, percussion, and horn ensembles. In 2012 we commissioned a work for horn soloist and horn quartet from the Portuguese composer Eurico Carrapatoso, from this arose the work “Voo aos Ventos”, which was premiered the same year at the International Music Festival in Espinho, Portugal, with Radovan Vlatkovic as the soloist. In 2014 we presented this work at the 46th IHS Symposium in London with Ab Koster as soloist.

4. Recordings

The Trompas Lusas have released 2 Cds, “Trompas Lusas” in 2012 and “The Eternal City” in 2016. Both of the recordings are indicative of the work that the Trompas Lusas has produced. We strive to make a mixture of works by well known composers of horn quartets and chamber works with winds , new works that were dedicated to us, and works by lesser known composers that we think are interesting and an excellent addition to the traditional horn quartet repertoire.

The title of our new CD, “The Eternal City,” has to do with the work that opens the CD. A trip to Rome in 2013, the eternal city, served as inspiration for Kerry Turner for the composition of this small work, a kind of fanfare. The work resulted from a commission. We thought it would be a great challenge to have a work by Kerry Turner written for us. We play this regularly in our concerts as an opening piece. To conclude the CD “The Eternal City” we added as a Bonus Track an arrangement by Martin Yates of the celebrated theme by George Gershwin “I Got Rhythm”, for quartet; a relaxed way to end the CD.

5. Trompas Lusas Festival and Master Classes

In addition to concerts the quartet has organized master classes and organized its own festival, the Trompas Lusas Festival, which has been held three times. In addition to the participation of young horn players from all over the country, this festival has included world-renowned horn players such as Hermann Baumann, Ab Koster, Radovan Vlatkovic, Marie-Luise Neunecker, Javier Bonet, Abel Pereira, Jonathan Luxton, and Søren Hermansson. This past October we combined the presentation of our new CD with one more event dedicated to the horn: the "Day of the Horn” on which we promoted various activities, from presentations to expositions of our materials. The Portuguese horn school has evolved in a fantastic way in the last few decades, and these types of activities are fundamental. We want to contribute so that young Portuguese horn players and fans of the horn in general have the opportunity to hear, learn, and get to know the best. Organizing these types of activities requires a lot of effort, but it is worth it.

6. Partnerships with Duerk Horns and Romera Brass

The Trompas Lusas have developed partnerships with well-known makers of equipment. It is very important for us to have the possibility to work with master fabricators; we get to know the products the materials used, and how things are made. With the help of our practical knowledge, we can get material with more personal characteristics. For these reasons we have developed partnerships with horn maker Dietmar Dürk (Dürk Horns) and Mouthpiece and mute maker Toni Romera (Romera Brass). This type of close relationship is reassuring for Trompas Lusas, and gives us confidence to be able to concentrate completely on our performances.

Upcoming activities

In the upcoming months, we will continue to promote our new CD, doing various presentations. The next presentation is scheduled for the 2nd of December in Madrid, at the I Congresso Internacional de Trompa de Madrid [First International Horn Congress in Madrid].

J. BERNARDO SILVA

Graduated from the Escola Superior of Lisbon, studying with Jonathan Luxton, with additional studies with Ab Koster, Radovan Vlatkovic and Javier Bonet. He participated in master classes with Hermann Baumann, Ab Koster, Radovan Vlatkovic, Bruno Schneider, Javier Bonet, Stefan Dohr, Froydis Ree Wekre, Philip Myers, Fergus McWilliam, Hervé Joulain, Will Sanders, Jasper de Waal, Zdenek Tylsar, among others. He has been soloist of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música since 2000. He is currently horn professor at the Espinho Professional Music School and the University of Aveiro. He was awarded the First Prize in the Philip Farkas Competition organized by the International Horn Society in Lahti, Finland in 2002. He has presented himself in several countries across Europe, as a solo performer, chamber musician and orchestral player. He performed as a guest artist in the 36th and 46th Symposium of International Horn Society, in Valencia and London respectively. He has been a very active chamber music musician, is a founding member of the horn quartet Trompas Lusas.

www.jbernardosilva.com
Trompas Lusas website: http://www.trompaslusas.com/
Trompas Lusas YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8xvROqjPsPYs-EajTjQcsg

Translation: Rebecca Holsinger