In my review of last week’s selection, Leopold Mozart’s French Horn Concerto in D (HERE), I mentioned that the four horn concertos of Wolfgang Mozart were on my list of Top 100 classical music favorites (HERE) – that’s what led me to listen to the work by Leopold Mozart in the first place.
As I researched that piece, I also found out that Wolfgang’s father Leopold wrote a concerto for two French horns, his Concerto for Two Horns and String Orchestra in E Flat (HERE). That made me wonder if any composer had written a concerto for three horns. In researching that question, I stumbled upon the Concerto for Four Horns & Orchestra by Carl Heinrich Hübler. Carl Heinrich Hübler? Who in blazes was Carl Heinrich Hübler? Turns out he was a hornist in the Dresden Royal Court orchestra from 1844 until his retirement in 1891, and he composed two concertos, a Concerto for Horn and Orchestra and a Concerto for Four Horns and Orchestra. A little more info about Hübler is HERE. Well, as you can deduce from my selection this week, I found the idea of a concerto for four horns intriguing. That's why I selected Herr Hübler’s work to listen to. Now, after having heard it several times, I found the piece to be… (A drum roll please!) …delightful! The concerto is short – it runs just over twelve minutes – and it is written in three movements with little to no pause between them: Allegro maestoso; Andante; Vivace. The concerto opens with a dramatic kettle drum roll and a stately if not ceremonious fanfare by the orchestra. When the horns entered, my first thought was that this piece might end up being a little too schmaltzy. At times it sounded a bit too Dudley Doright-y (for those of you old enough to remember Dudley Doright), and at times it was as bouncy and light as a Gilbert and Sullivan overture. For a few seconds – from 2:19 to 2:22 – I even heard a theme from a John Williams’ score for “Star Wars.” The piece is so fun, though, it didn’t take long for it to win me over. The andante section is a lilting six-eight piece that segues in and out of a bit of melodrama, and the third and final movement, “Vivace,” is a fast paced rollick to the end! Take a listen to the piece when you can. I think you'll love it too!
0 Comments
|
A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
September 2023
Categories
All
|