Horn Works

Shirley Horn covers several works by composer Curtis Lewis (who passed away prematurely at the age of 51 in 1969) in this 1984 trio concert at Florida Memorial College. Horn, who was introduced to Lewis by her manager, John Levy, during her debut recording session in 1960, recorded several of his works over her career, including "All Night Long," but the bittersweet nature of many of the songs heard in this performance is carried off beautifully by the singing pianist, particularly "He's Gone Again." The last four tracks comprising Lewis' "The Garden of the Blues Suite" are part narrative and part song, including the well-known composition "The Great City." Horn is in top form throughout the concert, with her soft, thoughtful vocals accompanied by her sensitive and sometimes swinging piano. Bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams provide terrific support as needed, though they sometimes lay out for a significant spell.

Mozart Edition: The Complete Works will make a great gift this Holiday season for the music lover in your life or someone who is hard to buy for. This collection contains 170 discs of completed works by Mozart in one beautiful package. Also included is a cd-rom containing essays on his works, artist bio's, text and libretti's. All music lovers will enjoy the Symphonies - Concertos - Serenades - Divertimenti - Dances - Chamber Music - Church Sonatas - String Ensembles - Violin Sonatas - Keyboard Works - Sacred Works - Concert Arias - Songs - Canons and Operas in this collection.

Miklós Rózsa and Bernard Herrmann were two composers leading a double life: Educated as serious classical composers who worked for the concert hall, they found their greatest success and life-long careers in the medium of motion pictures – more specifically, in Hollywood. Both men composed some of the most distinguished film scores of all time: Double Indemnity, Ivanhoe, Ben-Hur, King of Kings, El Cid (Rózsa); Citizen Kane, Vertigo, Psycho, and Taxi Driver (Herrmann).

Over the years Ifor James (1931-2004) has played with numerous orchestras and many famous composers have written and dedicated works to him. He was also one of the world’s most successful teachers, having put over 100 people into the profession. On this CD he plays horn sonatas together with Jennifer Partridge. Beethoven’s horn sonata especially stands out from the programme, since it’s the only sonata that Beethoven wrote for a wind instrument.

Jean-François Madeuf and Pierre-Yves Madeuf are two of the leading exponents of the historically informed performance practice as applied to wind instruments. On natural horn or natural trumpet they can be found in many of Europe’s main early music ensembles and orchestras. On this new Accent CD, they team up with Sigiswald Kuijken’s exquisite La Petite Bande to perform a set of Georg Philipp Telemann concertos as they have never been heard before on record: using natural trumpets and horns, and bringing the pieces back to their original chamber music context.

This CD from EMI features Dennis Brain, in my opinion the greatest horn player who ever lived. In his tragically brief life Brain recorded the definitive versions of numerous works, and although his Mozart horn concertos are my favorites, his treatment of Strauss is a close runner up. Despite these recordings being from the mid-1950s, the musicianship of Brain still makes these the best available. While I like Strauss, I find Hindemith a bit derivative and monotonous, although with Brain's treatment still a delight.