Horn Play

The hunting horn evolved in the seventeenth century as an accessory to a popular leisure activity for the aristocracy—the hunt. Its purpose during the chase was to signal unfolding events to people walking behind the mounted huntsmen; it was designed to be loud enough to project over considerable distance and over the barking of hunting hounds. From this rustic beginning, the horn underwent a remarkable process of taming and refinement over a few decades to become capable of being the featured musical instrument of chamber works in the eighteenth century, such as those recorded here. The music may still retain occasional references to its outdoor heritage in brief fanfares and hunting rhythms, but horn players achieved an ability to blend and balance with small groups of string instruments, harpsichord and woodwinds, with an emphasis on sweetness of tone, phrasing and articulation that would have been unanticipated a generation or so earlier.

Given the vaunted status of and incessant competitiveness among qualified musicians for the first section chairs of major symphony orchestras, perhaps it should not come as too much of a surprise that a first-chair soloist is often as skilled in transmitting concerto literature as a "star" recitalist. But producers of classical recordings have not often elected to showcase the talents of first-chair performers, certainly not to the extent that a listener would commonly encounter them in the concert hall.

The french horn, Transit Time Album, makes you travel in the world of the Gypsy and swing rhythms enhanced with the original melody created by Vincent Raffard from Paris. Trumpet, clarinet, violin , cello and more will bring you to the old school vibes. A Parisian jazz vocalist, guitarist, trumpet player, and songwriter, Vincent Raffard's style comfortably rides the train between contemporary and timeless classic gypsy jazz with his band The French Horn…

Felix Klieser, on his new album Beyond Words, focuses on the language of music, the stories that it tells – all without any words at all. He places the emphasis on the images that arise before our mind’s eye when listening to the music, on the emotions triggered by the music. For Beyond Words the hornist has chosen various arias by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel and Gluck, each of which describes the various, self-contained musical worlds they encompass in a very individual manner.