{"id":40798,"date":"2024-03-20T17:47:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T16:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/c338b098-7d9a-4fc6-9012-a63e542535a1"},"modified":"2024-03-20T18:39:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T17:39:58","slug":"the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The best horn concertos of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Hannah Nepilova\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 20 March 2024 at 16:47 PM<\/p>

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Since performing in the final of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year<\/a><\/strong> competition, Ben Goldscheider has established himself as one of Britain\u2019s leading horn players. Still only 25, he has given recitals at venues ranging from Amsterdam\u2019s Concertgebouw to London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall, and was an ECHO Rising Star for the 2021-2022 season. We sat down with him and he ran us through what he believes to be the best horn concertos in the instrument’s repertoire. Without further ado, over to Ben!<\/p>

The history of the French horn<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
Best horn concertos<\/h2>
Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings<\/h3>
Dennis Brain<\/a><\/strong>, for whom this was written, wanted a horn concerto, but he got this piece. To this day, nobody has really succeeded in emulating its form. Each movement is a character study on a different facet of the horn: in some movements it acts as a commentator on the text; at other moments it bursts forth, for example in the \u2018Dirge\u2018 where the fortissimo<\/em> horn melody totally obliterates the voice. So, Britten<\/a><\/strong> understands what the horn is as a symbol and treats it in a unique way.<\/p>
<\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Oliver Knussen: Horn Concerto<\/h3><p>One of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/k\/knussen-oliver\">Knussen<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s biggest strengths was timbral variety, and in this piece he weaves an incredible tapestry of orchestral colour. I love the way that the horn flits in and out of that tapestry: at times it\u2019s part of the collective; at others, it\u2019s very solitary, for example at the beginning where the horn melody hangs in the air as though it\u2019s echoing off cliffs. It\u2019s also one of the most enjoyable concertos to learn. I was meant to perform it with the London Philharmonic Orchestra last year, but I got Covid before the concert. So, I\u2019m pining to play it.<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-violin-concertos-of-all-time\">The best violin concertos of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Richard Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 2<\/h3><p>Although <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/richard-strauss\">Strauss<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s First Horn Concerto, which he wrote as a teenager, is his most famous, this one, written 60 years later, reveals the experience of the composer in his later years. You see the bombastic elements of the young Strauss, which makes you think of <em>Der Rosenkavalier<\/em> or <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/don-juan-strauss\">Don Juan<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, but you also get the more introverted Strauss of<em> Metamorphosen<\/em>, as well as a sense of someone who was trying to break away from conventional structure. This was also the first concerto I played with a professional symphony orchestra \u2013 in the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/six-best-bbc-young-musician-performances\">BBC Young Musician<\/a><\/strong> final \u2013 so it\u2019s very special to me.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"R.Strauss Horn Concerto No.2 -1M (1\/3) Radek Babor\u00e1k\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QWI8xrbbOQk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gavin Higgins: Horn Concerto<\/h3><p>Gavin Higgins was a horn player with a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/the-history-of-the-brass-band-how-brass-bands-began-and-why-they-remain-popular\">brass band<\/a><\/strong> background, and he pushes the instrument technically. But he does it in a way that feels just right, while remaining fun and manageable for the player. Like Knussen, he has an amazing feeling for orchestral colour and texture. It\u2019s thrilling to stand there in some of the <em>tutti<\/em>s and hear this huge orchestral sound behind you. And the second movement is so beautiful and expressive. I think this is one of those concertos that we\u2019ll still be playing in 100\u00a0years\u2019 time.\u00a0<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/greatest-piano-concertos-all-time\">The greatest piano concertos of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 3<\/h3><p>I had to include a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/mozart\">Mozart<\/a><\/strong> horn concerto. This one is not his most famous \u2013 that distinction goes to the Fourth \u2013 but for me it\u2019s the most musical. It\u2019s very operatic: the ending of the third movement is like those Mozart operas where you get all the characters coming on stage, wanting to be heard. But the rest of the piece is more contained and intimate. Mozart is at his best when he\u2019s writing simple melodies with incredible turns of harmony, and this piece has many such moments of magic.<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/mozart-violin-concertos-the-best-recordings\">Mozart’s violin concertos: the best recordings<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mozart Horn Concerto No 3 E flat major K 447 Radek Babor\u00e1k RTVE Jean Jacques Kan\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R93hIpLgkjQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ruth Gipps: Horn Concerto<\/h3><p>While every other composer on this list has tried to write idiomatically for the instrument, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/gipps-ruth\">Ruth Gipps<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Concerto feels like she didn\u2019t care about any of that. She had a musical idea in her head, and it just so happened that she wrote it for the horn. But as a result, she managed to push the technical capabilities of the instrument. And I like this notion of putting the music first and effectively saying to the performer, \u2018Deal with it. Figure out a way to play this.\u2019 After all, if Beethoven had listened to all the complaints about the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-beethovens-symphony-no-3-eroica\">\u2018Eroica\u2019 Symphony<\/a><\/strong>, it wouldn\u2019t exist.<\/p><p>We named Ruth Gipps as one of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/best-english-composers\">best English composers of all time<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ligeti: Hamburg Concerto<\/h3><p>All seven of the composers I\u2019ve chosen manage to appreciate what a horn is while doing something new with it. Nobody more so than <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/gyorgy-ligeti\">Ligeti<\/a><\/strong>. His <em>Hamburg Concerto <\/em>pits equal temperament and just intonation against one another, creating a sound world that is totally unique, because there is no better instrument for exploring the harmonic series. But there are other amazing musical characteristics like the sound of African bongos. The result is highly virtuosic and so much fun, with a sense of discovery.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gy\u00f6rgy Ligeti: Hamburgisches Konzert (Hamburg Horn Concerto)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b42WgJR9o8A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><p><em>Interview by Hannah Nepilova<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Hannah Nepilova Published: Wednesday, 20 March 2024 at 16:47 PM Since performing in the final of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, Ben Goldscheider has established himself as one of Britain\u2019s leading horn players. Still only 25, he has given recitals at venues ranging from Amsterdam\u2019s Concertgebouw to London\u2019s Royal Albert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40799,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time.jpg",2560,1920,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/the-best-horn-concertos-of-all-time-2048x1536.jpg",2048,1536,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Hannah Nepilova Published: Wednesday, 20 March 2024 at 16:47 PM Since performing in the final of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, Ben Goldscheider has established himself as one of Britain\u2019s leading horn players. Still only 25, he has given recitals at venues ranging from Amsterdam\u2019s Concertgebouw to London\u2019s Royal Albert…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Best horn concertos<\/h2>