Hi all, I've followed the discussion on triple horns with some interest. As of right now, I am not an advocate of the triple. The main reasons that I don't favor the triple are as follows:
- They are too much of a compromise - in most cases, they seem to be a double horn with a high-F side grafted on, or, more commonly, a descant with a low-F side. In either case, something has to give. Mostly they have poor low-F horns, and that is a huge problem for me, because I think that the essence of our horn sound comes from a good F-horn concept.. (see Philharmonic, Vienna). -They are too heavy to respond well. Schmid has tried to mitigate this, but his is an imperfect solution, in my opinion. - They are a crutch. Players use them because they have not worked out properly how to play high in an efficient way. Or they are scared of clamming high notes. - You cannot play them loud on the high-F side and have them sound right. There's always a certain hollowness to the tone. - It's actually more tiring to play a High-F side of a horn, because the perceived resistance is less, and so you have to work harder inside the mouthpiece. - I can always tell in an audition when a candidate is using the high-F side of a descant or triple. It is not possible to disguise the sound to a trained ear. And for our orchestra, we do not generally employ that sound. Now, there are times when I use my descant - certain pieces by Berg, demanding contemporary pieces, perhaps Shostakovich 5 on the high solo, or some high classical symphonies. But it's just not that often. For example, I recorded every Mahler Symphony and never used a descant or triple. Some advocates of triples make the case that it is simply the evolution of horn playing. Perhaps. But it is not inevitable. If we have in our minds what a beautiful horn sound is and strive to play with that concept, everyone benefits. I think we ultimately become stronger players by minimizing the use of high-F horns and learning how to play efficiently, accurately and beautifully on our doubles. All the best to you, worldwide, B Robert N. Ward Principal Horn San Francisco Symphony [email protected] _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
