Point taken, and no to me it's not exactly a 'high' piece. To me, however, it is a 'light' piece, and I would prefer a lighter horn. One could play it on a double, but it's very difficult to get a 'baroque' sound out of a modern double, compared to a single Bb. I've got a single Bb with A valve, and it works perfectly for that solo and gives me the sound I want. To me, Baroque is delicate and flowery, not heavy and cumbersome. Sound is my first priority.
At least, that's how it is for me.... As for Beet. 7, I've always been on the fence about it, and it truly depends on the horn. I haven't played it in a while, so the next time I do it would be whatever sounds better. I think if we did a survey of 'descant' pieces among players who occasionally use a descant, we would find that only a few pieces would be shared among all players, perhaps. -William -----Original Message----- From: Steve Haflich <[email protected]> To: The Horn List <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Aug 15, 2011 1:02 am Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Triple horns [email protected] wrote: Just out of curiosity, if a candidate used a descant for only a small handful of excerpts, like the Bach Quonium, Brandenburg, or even Beethoven 7, while using a double for the rest, would you count it against them? There is something curious about this collection of potential descant pieces. Why is the Quoniam included? The piece is treacherous (one sits on stage for an hour, without playing, before that opening octave leap!) and it is solo, exposed, and requires agility. But it _isn't_ particularly high. The top note is only A (on F horn) and while there are a number of A's, the tessatura of the piece is not higher than what one finds in a Mahler symphony. There is something about the Quoniam that make us hornists think of it as a "high" piece. Why? And is that a productive approach to playing it? I think not. _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/valkhorn%40aol.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
