John EricsonAs has been my habit for a number of years, in less than two weeks I will present my annual solo horn recital. This year the theme of the recital will be works written by horn players, and will include compositions of Kerry Turner, Laurence Lowe, and Verne Reynolds.
The recital will open with the Sonata for horn and piano by Kerry Turner. Best known for his work with the American Horn Quartet, Kerry Turner should need little introduction to regular horn matters readers. This work is a gem (published in 1995) that should be performed more often. It is worth noting that actually I am finding that typical recordings of this, while they sound good, are often a good bit slower than the printed tempo markings in the outer movements. I am working toward the faster tempos, but actually I am not sure there are more than a handful of players that can play this cleanly at the printed tempos, which may speak to the virtuosity of the composer. A triple horn might be helpful toward the goal of his very bright tempos (making use of high F alternate fingerings in some passages), but I am playing the entire recital on a double so I will aim for the maximum I can manage and keep clean.
Closing out the first half is a Fantasie on themes from the opera I Puritani by Bellini. Biographical information available on the composer C. D. Lorenz is sketchy, but he was a horn player and apparently lived from 1816-66. The first time I checked a physical recording of the opera I got frustrated trying to find the Fantasie themes, but further recent searching on YouTube helped me find the themes that Lorenz sets in his work in the original context. I will aim to hit an operatic style in my performance, at times a good bit slower (and faster) than the tempos printed in the Southern Music edition of this work.
After intermission we turn to a very recent composition by Brigham Young University horn professor Lawrence Lowe. His Intermezzo is a beautiful short work, dedicated to the memory of his father Walter V. Lowe (1926-2011).
Earlier this year I heard Prof. Lowe perform this work followed directly by the Caccia movement of the Verne Reynolds Partita, and with that as inspiration I am closing my recital with the complete Partita. I studied with Reynolds at Eastman, and with his passing last year I felt it a good time to examine this work again. It is a four movement work that was published in 1964, but it was premiered on the senior recital of Norman Schweikert on May 24, 1961. I performed this as a Doctoral student but it really felt like I was learning it again from scratch! As with the Turner, two of the movements are at a printed tempo that would require virtuoso technique to pull off. Fortunately, both works still sound great at a more relaxed tempo. Advanced students should not fear either of these works, and they have been a most enjoyable challenge for me as well.
I will be joined on this program by Yi-Wan Liao on piano. For those in the area, it will be on Sunday, September 16 at 2:30 in Katzin Concert Hall on the ASU campus and is a ticketed event. I hope a few readers might make it in and if not, at least be looking at the works above as possible ones to learn; we have a lot of great rep to play on the horn.