I have long wondered whether or not the french horn could be considered the most difficult orchestral instrument to master.
Liudas
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The bore of a horn is the same length as that of a bass trombone. Because the harmonics come so close together at the top of the range, it is very easy to get the wrong note (not out of tune, wrong) up there. In many top orchestras (certainly including the Phila.) you will see one more horn player on stage than the music requires: the extra player is the assistant first horn player, whose job is to play any 1st-horn notes that the official first-hornist doesn't want to play. The first horn is the only instrument in the orchestra that gets a pinch-hitter (or is it a pinch-runner?) like that.
Despite the difficulty of many first-horn parts, I confess I regard this as more of a quasi-feudal perquisite of office than a real musical necessity.
-- Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press
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