Ralph R. Hall [email protected] Ralph R. Hall http://www.brasshausmusic.com
Hi Hornlisters, It seems to me that Hans states the obvious about our friend, Donato Inglese. Good player, yes. Solo Horn in an orchestra? Probably not. The larger question is, have those we regularly and universally admit to being our best solo performers given up playing in ensembles? From the past, Dennis Brain died returning fulfilling an orchestral gig. Tuckwell et al served long apprenticeships as orchestral players and I'm convinced this made them better musicians, and by extension better soloists. Nor, so far as I am aware, did (or do) the more famous soloists leave orchestral employment because they did not fit in with their colleagues. All this begs the question whether the solo horn repertoire is either fulfilling as a repertoire for a serious musician in the way that the piano and violin repertoire most certainly are, or as a career. As an aside, and I'm surprised this has not been posted yet, we are in the midst of the BBC Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Although living in Germany, I was able recently to pick up on the TV the performance of Mahler 5 by the World Orchestra for Peace. I am usually sceptical about ad hoc ensembles like this but this was the finest performance of this symphony I have heard for a long time and I urge you all to buy the DVD when it will assuredly be released. If you go to the web site www.bbc.co.uk/proms and search for the actual programme for this concert, the personnel and their regular orchestras are listed. The solo horn was Gail Williams and she played superbly. It was cool, powerful, exciting and, naturally, accurate and these are just a few superlatives that spring to mind. The rest of the section followed her inspirational lead and here it is (in alphabetical order): Norbert Dausacker (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orch.); Rainer Jurkiewicz (WDR Symphony, Cologne); Esa Tapani (Arctic Philharmonic Orch., Oslo); Stanislav Tses (Marinsky Theatre Orch., St. Petersburg); Gail Williams - and here it lists: Grand Teton Music Festival Orch., Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Sarah Willis (2nd Horn Berlin Philharmonic). I guess with that eclectic mix, there is no room for a prima donna! Of note also, Gene Pokorny, Tuba (CSO) and the young principal trumpet of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Timur Martynov. These last also played superbly. The winning touch was the way Gergiev (Maestro, Everywhere Symphony Orchestra!), brought Gail and Timur front of stage to take in the rapturous applause. The last time I saw anything like was also Mahler 5 in the Cologne Triennial of 1997, when Baranboim waded through the CSO with a single rose from his bouquet and presented it to Herseth, on his final tour to Europe, who inverted the bell of his trumpet to receive it. Catch this on DVD as well. Ralph R. Hall _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
