Firstly, it has to be said that the music on this disc is not great. It
consists mostly of fairly routine ‘recital pieces’, designed to put aspiring
players through their paces, and therefore beloved of conservatoires and the
like. It will though be of special interest to lovers of the horn – not only
players, who will be in a state of mild though pleasurable shock after
hearing it, but to all lovers of utter musical mastery.
The Chinese horn-player Xiaoming Han, now in his fifties, has been
principal horn of the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra since 1985, when
he was just 22. He has spent time in Beijing since then, managing the
orchestra of the National Centre for Performing Arts, but is at present back
with his orchestra in Germany.
Despite my reservations about the music, it is an undeniably fascinating
programme, combining music by the Strausses, father and son. Many listeners
will know that Richard Strauss’s father was a renowned horn-player, but are
unlikely to have heard much if any of his own music. He was quite a prolific
composer – his horn concertos make occasional appearances in concert
programmes today – and a true musical stick-in-the-mud, effectively banning
his son from having any truck with the modernists Wagner and Liszt, even
though he himself played first horn in the premiere of
Tristan, and
was consulted by Wagner regarding Siegfried’s horn call in the
Ring.
So his music is, predictably, conventional, though, as one would expect,
effectively written for the horn.
Les Adieux is an early, short and
rather sulky piece, followed by the equally brief but attractive
Nocturno. The Theme and Variations is a more extended and
impressive piece, with a genuinely lovely slow episode at its centre. The
Franz Strauss part of the disc is completed by a Fantasy on the Schubert
piano piece
Sehnsuchtwalzer (‘Waltzes of Longing’,
D365/2). This begins with another gloomy minor key introduction, but then
goes off into an entertaining enough series of variations. Again, the most
attractive part is the lyrical slow variant around four minutes into the
track.
What of Xiaoming Han’s playing? Hard to describe adequately; even in the
hands of such great players as Dennis Brain or Barry Tuckwell, the horn has
never been made to sound so flexible, so expressive – and so
easy,
even though we know it is anything but. Han’s tone is creamily smooth, with
just that hint of vibrato that warms the sound so attractively. He has a
wonderful command of the upper reaches, and his top notes ring out
heroically, as one would expect from a first horn of his calibre. He doesn’t
eschew a firm, brassy sound in the lower reaches either, which is glorious
to hear. You never feel for a moment that he is likely to fluff or ‘crack’ a
note — though in the nature of things I expect there were some re-takes —
and the whole disc is breath-taking in its combination of artistry and
bravura.
The Richard Strauss pieces are not among his most distinguished. Even so,
Ein Alphorn hör ich shallen’ (‘I hear an Alphorn sounding’) is a
pleasant song, with horn obbligato and the welcome contribution of the
rich-toned mezzo, Katja Boost. Don’t expect to hear anything of the ‘great’
Richard Strauss here; along with the song, the
Andante and the
Introduktion, Thema und Variationen were written at various times
as gifts for his father. They are nearly as conventional as his Papa’s own
music. The
Andante, which seems to be a movement from a planned but
never completed horn sonata, does have Strauss’s characteristic twisting
key-changes to add to its interest.
The final item on the disc is a true novelty –
Till Eulenspiegel –
einmal anders (Till Eulenspiegel – one more time) by Franz Hasenöhrl. I
was delighted to come across this, as I remember trying it out when I was a
student, and hadn’t heard it since. It’s written for a quintet of violin,
clarinet, horn, bassoon and double bass, and is a kind of ‘edited
highlights’ of Strauss’s original orchestral masterpiece. It’s mildly
entertaining; but in the end rather infuriating in that the ‘editing’
involves lopping bits off phrases, so that everything is rushed and
unbalanced, with key-changes short-circuited. Worth a listen, and I don’t
imagine it’s been recorded before … though I could be wrong. I’ll warrant
you’ll then want to go back Strauss’s tone-poem in its wonderful complete
version. The recording, as for the whole of the CD, is first-class.
As a feast of truly stunning instrumental virtuosity, this is a great
issue; and for horn player – compulsory.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
