by Sam Juliano
Composed during the peak period of Mozart’s career, in the last months of his life, the four horn concertos remain today as a major section of the horn player’s repetoire. Written for the composer’s friend, Joseph Leutgeb, the compositions have always been though as particularly difficult to perform, even on the period instruments of the day. It is a testament to Leutgeb’s considerable skills, that they were successfully negotiated. Comparatively speaking, the ‘French horn’ was a newer instrument for Mozart to write for, as it generally began appearing in the early 1700’s with chromatic enhancement in baroque orchestras, after it made its debut as a hunting device in France.
Leutgeb was a noted virtuoso, who was known to serve as the principal horn in Salzburg during Mozart’s earlier years. By 1770 he was largely involved in solo work, and was having a successful run in Paris, where the Mercure de France praised his ability “to sing an adaggio as perfectly as the most mellow, interesting, and accurate voice.” He is reported in February 1773 to have joined Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart on part of their Italian tour, and in 1777 he moved to Vienna, where he kept his musical activities on track, while simultaneously managing a cheese store. Mozart’s manuscripts reveal both a mischievious humor and deep respect for his childhood companion, whom he described as ‘unswervingly loyal.”
The four horn concertos are a happy, sunny confection that offer endless delights to the listener, and the new release on Classical Express/Harmonia Mundi with Lowell Greer on a natural horn, with the Philharmonic Baroque Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan is the best since the classical 1953 EMI recording with Dennis Brain on the horn, and Herbert Von Karajan conducting. That’s quite an achievement, and much has to do with the guidance of McGegan, whose musical sensibilities perfectly match the lighter mood of these late masterpieces. At a time when Mozart’s poignant and beautiful Clarinet Concerto in A represented the pinnacle of his concerto output, the composer’s outlook with the horn work is sustained with soaring poetry, if technically kept to shorter durations, due to hand-stopping, that altered the tone, making it in various degrees nasal, muffled or even snarly.
Concerto in E-flat, K447 is surely one of the most lyrical of all the composer’s works with any instrument, as it has a special hybrid sound, showing Mozart departing from the oboe-horn combination of the other works opting to highlight a more velvety backround of clarinet and bassoons. The appearance of so many characters in a work of marked compression is a rarity, and the work is launched by a dreamy opening coda, that marvously bursts into the kind of glorious musical motifs favored by Handel, and atypical of the baroque era, though with the usual and incomparable technical brilliance.
The CD features all four concertos as well as the “Rondeau in E-flat, K 371” and the “Rondo in D, K 514” which perfectly complement the spirit and tone of the horn works, and make for a most distinguished classical release, well worth the modest price tag. Any new Mozart release deserves special attention, but with Lowell Greer and Nic McGegan as the translators, it deserves even more than that.
- Nicholas McGegan
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Bonjour! Sam Juliano…
This review of Mozart’s ‘Horn Concertos’ with Lowell Greer and Nicholas McGegan is very interesting, well-written and very informative too…especially, this fact, about Mozart and the French Horn…Hmmm
The ‘French horn’ was a newer instrument for Mozart to write for, as it generally began appearing in the early 1700′s with chromatic enhancement in baroque orchestras, after it made its debut as a hunting device in France.
Sam, to be quite honest with you, I didn’t use to listen to classical music…Well, that was until my mère (mother) introduced me to Claude Debussy’s music (In order to reduce stress…whenever I experience headaches)…I must admit that his music is beautiful, but when it comes to his private life… 🙄 he was the “classical” Frenchman.
Claude Debussy’s Private Life
Merci, for sharing!
DeeDee 😉 🙂
Thanks so much for the terrific reply here Dee Dee, and for the link to Debussy’s private life. I can’t blame you (and your mere) for loving the sensory and expressionistic French composer, (one of music’s most influential geniuses) who is also one of my absolute faves. I’m sure you know the ultra-popular “Claire de Line” one of the most beautiful of all compositions. It was recently used to powerful and poignant effect in the the Japanese TOKYO SONATA. But the Preludes, Etudes, LA MER and the opera PELEAS ET MELISANDE are beautiful too, as well as a number of others.
As always I’m deeply appreciative my very good friend for your great enthusiasm!
This sounds interesting!
After reading this, I remember a person I don’t remember listening to, very famous playing music with the horn that was simply beautiful.
Have taken note of this.
BTW, have you seen or heard of this yet?
I will surely get it once released. Cheers!
Wow Michael, that Glass doing Vivaldi is fascinating stuff! No, I admit I hadn’t heard of it to this point, and like you I’d buy it in a hearbeat. Vivaldi’s work is one of music’s treasures, and Glass has quite an infectious minimalist style. Not a marriage made in heaven, but still a most intriguing one. The horn (and the clarinet) have produced some extraordinarily beautiful music I quite agree.
Thanks for your much-valued comments Michael. I will be looking in on the brewery momentarily.
I am often uncertain of how to detect what is Handel’s and what is Mozart’s when it comes to the horn concertos. Much of the baroque music sounds the same, but I do love it.
Terrific review.
A novice has difficulty sometimes in figuring who is who, Frank. But Mozart’s work has a rhythm and structural brilliance that eventually makes him impossible to miss.
Thanks for the compliments, but this is a very modest review, nothing special, trying to convince readers to get this terrific CD.
Thanks as always, my very good friend.
Sunny music is Haydn. Mozart is more playful, so there is a crossover with these works. That is an achievement if it’s the best in all that time.
Haydn is always sunny, Joe, though he is profound in his oratorios, especially THE CREATION, one of music’s great masterpieces. But there is a similar focus in baroque music, so the connection is valid.
Sold Sam! I’ve just ordered my copy on amazon. Good price too!
I must seek commission! Ha!
I think the Clarinet Concerto in A is my favorite composition by Mozart. Still, I’ve heard this set once (not on the CD) and in some compilations, and these are beautiful. Seems Mozart was always dedicating his works to people he admired or was friends with and this one is an interesting story.
Yes Peter, he did have a number of dedications, as per custom of that period, though he was never bashful to honor his peeers and predecessors. Can’t blame you for putting that Clarinet concerto on top (it’s one of my own favorites too) though the Requiem, the Jupiter Symphony, several arias from “The Magic Flute” and “Don Giovanni” (as well as the Elvira Madigan piano concerto) also are in the running. You need to get this set.
Thanks as always for the great comment.
I read somewhere that Mozart was best appreciated in the morning just after one wakes up. Something about sunny tone talked about on this thread.
I remember taking a music course in college and the professor was some stuffy arrogant composer fellow. During the last day of that semester’s course he played two pieces. One was Gesang Der Jungling by Karlheinz Stockhausen and the other was one of his own pieces. He went on saying how his composition was structurally similar to Mozart while the “modern” piece was shit (or something to that affect). Most of the class indulged him and complimented his own composition while trashing “that atonal racket” that came before. When he asked in his pompous voice if anyone could possibly like the Stockhausen piece better, me and one brave girl raised our hands!!! He seemed bemused by our preferential choice. Regardless, I will give your Mozart recommendation a listen/purchase as I am fascinated by a horn concerto.
Thanks so much Maurizio for that fantastic anecdote, which perfectly sizes up the continued appreciation of a piece written well over 200 years ago. Seems like that college professor got a bit more than he figured on there! Ha! In any case, this recording is warm and bubbly, and as david says above great to wake up if I may say so myself. Your own musical background and affinity is much appreciated here my friend. Thank you!
Splendid write-up as always, Dear Schmulee! However, my gripe is not with the new performances of classical music and the new digital recordings made for prosterity (I say we need more and more). No, I’m just a little twisted when every time a Mozart piece is reviewed, EVERYONE comes in singing about how great the pieces are, any of them.
Truth be told, not every piece the famed little composer wrote was “great” or a “masterpiece”. Wolfgang’s interests lay mainly in Opera and large scale choral pieces. Symphony was his second love (Read Maynard Solomon’s amazing biography on the composer and you’ll you know what I mean), and most of the other forms were merely popped off on a whim (albeit he had alot of whims, his canon is staggering considering his short life-time). The piano Sonata’s were closer to him than say the piano Concerto’s (this being because he felt the piano to be a deeply personal instrument). The thing is, most forms outside of his beloved Opera, really were comprised of pieces that he committed to paper sohe could get them out of his head and move on to greener pastures…
The HORN CONCERTO’s you write of are wonderful. However, I dare say that Haydn’s HORN CONCERTO CONCERTO No. 1 in D is far away better than all of Mozarts put together and I’d go a far to say thay the mastery of composition for the horns was committed by Brahm’s with his spectacular HORN TRIO in E-Flat. Now, this is typical for the Mozartian cheerleaders that sing his praises blindly. The fact is, that not everything he wrote was great. Mozart was a slave to the royals and the aristocracy, had major enemies that kept him from making it far bigger than he should have in his professional career (remember a guy named SALIERI?) and in tandem with his concentration to composition was his concentration in being consumed by alcohol, drugs, fast women, parties, thrift spending of what little money he could make and effectively pushing away the one woman who truly loved him (again, read Solomon).
I contest that Mozarts flowery attitude in music didn’t always fit well with the form he was writing it for and often mis-paired the coloring with the form. Take into account that he was most likely popping off less interesting pieces for himself quickly to meet a comission deadline or to hastily ready it for a societal perfomance or party (he did this to eat, often his music was heard only as background music for a dinner party or an aristocratic social event-like bands at today’s weddings), you get less than “perfect” music sometimes.
Now, none of this can be said for his Opera’s (THE MAGIC FLUTE and, particularly the awesome DON GIOVANNI stand out higher than his others), as for that was where his heart really lay. But, pieces like the Horn Concerto’s you review above have a less weighty texture to them than they should. In all instances, the horns seem to be holding back the heavier grandeur that they were created to produce. Horns are, for the most part, used for far more dramatic purposes, signifying a heavier, darker weight. They were not meant to be used like flutes and create an airy and open sense of lightness that is trademark of Mozart’s music and his childlike personality. I like the Horn Concerto’s immensely, but I have problems with them in final thought. This is because I feel his mind isn’t always thinking through every detail when its a form he really has no use for (he had said Opera was his only real love and that his social life was always in need of attention) and I will say that this same material would have probably been better served with a more delicate instument like the flute.
This brings us back to my problem with the constant accolades whipped out to Mozart like a child finding his parents gun in the closet and waving it around for fun. The facts are there, he did produce alot of music that was only slightly better than average and not everything he wrote was perfect. I think we often heap praise on him because of the creations he gave us in his youthful life and because of his prodigy status. With many of his works thare is no question of his genius. However, to say that he is better, all around, than say Bach (the MASTER) or Beethoven (right behind Bach) is to not really know Mozarts music or his life and put two-and-two together. Mozart is NOT the be all and end all in Classical Music, and it kills me that his name is usually put at the top of the list, blindly, whenever a new recording is released or a discussion is taking place. I love him, but he’s gotta bow to his superiors.
For the record, this is how I see the top ten in Classical Music composers:
10. Stravinski (the highest ranked Russian and the only non German to make the top ten. Tchaikovski is USUALLY cited but, frankly, his music is too overwrought with syrupy emotion. Stravinski hits it, every time, with innovation, wild creativity and lilting melody-when needed)
9. Schumann
8. Schubert (if it was Symphony No. 8 and his MESSIAH alone, he’d still make the top ten. As for song-writers, he has no peers-his AVA MARIA trumps all competitors)
7. Handel
6. Haydn (along with the likes of Bach and Vivaldi, this is the guy that really heped get the ball rolling)
5. Brahms (never given enough credit, he usually hits the mark every time. His Concerto in D major for violin and orchestra is as close to perfection as they come)
4. Wagner (I know, I know, but I never let the personality get in the way of the art. he may have been the most despicable man in history and “father” to the Nazi party. However, you have to forgive him for his music. The “Liebestod” from his titanic TRISTAN UND ISOLDE is astounding)
3. Mozart (Really high on the list, a third place ribbon in this company should not be taken lightly-He would make it this high on the defining opera DON GIOVANNI alone.)
2. Beethoven (more growth in music is seen in Beethovens life than any one composer. He redefines and perfects everything that comes before him and then, in his third “late” period, swings for the 20th century with things like the immortal 9th Symphony-arguably the greatest piece of music EVER written and his choral mass MISSA SOLEMNIS-why is he not No. 1? He’s really tied with the next guy)
1. BACH (if perfection in art has a face its this guy. His ST. MATTHEWS PASSION could reduce a person to weeping, the TOCATTA AND FUQUE in D minor is natural progression in music taken to top drawer and THE BRANDENBURG CONCERTO’S are, for lack of a more detailed description, pure perfection).
Epic comment Dennis. I’m more into modern avant garde classical but your passion for certain composers and their works has me reaching for my notebook. I want to jot down some of the compositions you mention to get reacquainted to music I’ve probably been ignoring or taken for granted.