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.

English version

O INÍCIO

As Trompas Lusas são um quarteto de trompas português, fundado no ano de 2010, e que está radicado na zona do Porto, norte de Portugal. O projecto nasceu de uma relação de amizade de vários anos. Fizemos a nossa formação inicial na mesma escola, Artave, e fomos convivendo regularmente tocando inicialmente em Bandas Filármonicas, e mais tarde colaborando em várias orquestras. Durante anos tivemos em mente o projecto de criar um quarteto de trompas, pelo grande prazer em fazermos música de câmara e podermos fazê-lo entre amigos. Em 2010 aconteceu o nosso primeiro concerto, surgiu a oportunidade de apresentarmos o Konzerstück para 4 trompas de Robert Schumann. Foi em Espanha, com a Orquestra Sinfónica da Cidade de Pontevedra. Esta fantástica obra foi um enorme desafio para um grupo que estava a começar, mas os sucessivos ensaios e o resultado do concerto deu-nos a motivação necessária para continuar com o projecto. Passados 5 anos, em 2015 voltaríamos a interpretar o Konzertstück de Robert Schumann em mais um par de concertos.

SOBRE OS MEUS COLEGAS

Os meus colegas das Trompas Lusas são músicos freelance, colaborando de forma regular com várias orquestras portuguesas. Uma dessas orquestras é a Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, orquestra da qual sou membro efectivo desde 2000. São também professores bastante activos, lecionando em algumas das principais escolas desta zona do país.

Bruno Rafael leciona na Academia de Música de Guimarães, Universidade do Minho e Escola Profissional de Música de Viana do Castelo. É membro da Orquestra de Guimarães. Somos colegas há 23 anos e para além da paixão pela trompa, partilhamos a paixão pelo futebol e pelo mesmo clube Sporting Clube de Portugal!!

Nuno Costa leciona no Conservatório do Vale do Sousa, Escola Profissional de Música e Academia de Espinho. É membro da Orquestra de Guimarães. Muito prestável e polivalente, tanto toca trompa grave como aguda, sendo também o responsável por manter as contas do grupo equilibradas!!

Hugo Sousa leciona no Conservatório Regional de Vila Real, Academia de Música Sociedade Vizelense e Academia de Música de Vila Verde. É o membro mais jovem das Trompas Lusas, em jovem chegou a ser meu aluno e sem dúvida um dos alunos mais talentosos com quem tive oportunidade de trabalhar. Grande especialista de trompa grave, é um músico muito seguro. Fora da música é um apaixonado por desportos radicais, em especial downhill mountain biking!

Jonathan Luxton with João Gaspar

by Jonathon Luxton

João Gaspar and his horn quartet were organizing a horn workshop. He wanted me to do an interview talking about my 30 years in the Gulbenkian Orchestra, teaching for 26 years in the Escola da Música Lisboa (ESML), and my life in Portugal. It was filmed and recorded, and an article came out in a Portuguese magazine. I'm not sure how my Portuguese was as I was suffering a little from jet lag (I’d just returned from China, on my last big Gulbenkian tour).

After the general introductions, the interview started with João asking me why I'd come to Portugal to play for Gulbenkian. I explained that I had seen an ad in the Saturday Telegraph and had auditioned in London. I was not the first choice - that accolade went to Andy Antcliffe, now in the BBC. He didn't take the job, so they rang me. After some negotiating and doing 3 weeks here and there with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, I decided it was the job I wanted. The Orchestra was at that point only a chamber orchestra. Over the next 5 or 6 years, they started to play an ever-larger repertoire. I insisted on having 4 horns. They accepted, but we never got the 5th horn, even though our repertoire needed one.

Then we spoke about teaching and the legacy I was leaving in Portugal. I was honest and said that when I first came to Portugal, the general horn playing level was not what it is now. There were some good players, but they were few and far between. I'm a firm believer that beginners need the best teacher. It's quite easy to motivate students at University level, and if they arrive with their technique sorted out it makes teaching them easy. In my first few years, I taught at various Professional Schools (6th-12th grade) before starting at the ESML. Quite a lot of my ex-pupils were at this workshop. Paulo Guerreiro, (principal in OSP; also playing the Sao Carlos Opera), said that Bohdan Sebastik and myself were responsible for players such as Abel Pereira, Jose Bernardo Silva, Filipe Abreu and Paulo (and of course others). These wonderful players go on to teach, thus raising the level. The younger students take inspiration from their peers, and so the cycle goes on. I congratulated Paulo on taking over my position at the ESML and continuing to produce wonderful players like Ana Beatriz Menezes.

Kristina Mascher-Turner: When I think of Portugal, I think immediately of the sea, the long maritime tradition, the beautiful coastline, fresh seafood, the salty air…Your family roots are steeped in this tradition. Can you tell us what it was like spending so much of your childhood on the ocean?

Abel Pereira: Yes, that is true. My childhood playground was the beach. Not a day went by that I didn’t spend time there. In the summer we would go surfing all day long, even at night, and on winter evenings we would make fire pits in the sand waiting for our moms to come get us, sometimes waving wooden spoons if it was too late! I used to play with my friends jumping from boat to boat, imagining we were in pirate battles. Sometimes I would even skip school to go out on the water with my friends in small sailing boats that had been abandoned by the coast. We had no idea how dangerous that was, but for us, those were the biggest adventures!!! Usually on weekends if the weather were good I would go out on the water with my dad, helping the fishermen on the sea front. That was one of my favorite activities.

KMT: What was your first encounter with the horn? Was there a distinct moment when you knew you wanted to spend your life playing?

AP: Well, when I was about 11(?) our neighbors experienced a tragic incident and my dad, concerned for my safety, no longer wanted me to spend weekends on the boat with him. Instead I started playing the horn with my town’s marching band. I fell in love with the horn right from the beginning, especially after listening to Hermann Baumann’s sound, but at first I thought it would be something I did just for fun. At that time I couldn't imagine myself doing anything that wasn’t connected to the ocean. At the age of 14 though, after discovering the beauty of Brahms, Strauss and Mahler, my heart felt very divided between the sea life and the music world. I thought I had two options, either work on the boat during the week and play my horn on weekends or play my horn professionally and have some fun on weekends with the boat. Obviously I chose the second option.

KMT: You’ve studied both in Portugal and in Germany. Is there a significant difference in the horn playing traditions between the two countries?

AP: Yes, there is a big difference between these two countries. Germany has a 300-year-old tradition of horn playing during which they have created their own style. It’s a country full of great orchestras and amazing players. Through the years some of the orchestra’s horn sections may have developed more individually but the core of the style remains very strong. In Portugal the situation is very different. There is no strong tradition yet but rather a mix of styles. There are few orchestras in the country and most are not more than forty years old. When these orchestras were created there were not enough professional musicians to fill the spots so they had to import some musicians. Now there are some very good musicians and teachers but many of them come from different places like the US, France, Czech Republic and England, and with them they bring their own playing traditions!