Customer Reviews

French Music for Horn and Piano

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I purchased this album specifically for the recording of Poulenc's "Elegie". I admire Barry Tuckwell a lot, but this recording does not present him at his best. (Which one does? My vote goes to the Ashkenazy-Perlman-Tuckwell recording of the Brahms Horn Trio. But I digress.) Tuckwell has always lived in the shadow of Dennis Brain, to whom the Elegie was dedicated, and his tone, while usually dark, smooth, and generally horn like, does not have the consistency of Brain's golden tone that extended from the top of the staff to F below the treble clef, and frequently lower. Of course, tone might be a matter of taste. But there is very little musicality in this recording. Frequently, Tuckwell seems satisfied playing the directions on the page, and except for a few notable exceptions, he is well in tune, his dynamics are appropriate, and he's playing "within" the horn. But there's no phrasing or emotion. The exceptions are the "Villanelle" and the "Elegie". "En Forét" is very good, but not as accurate as John Cerminaro's more recent recording. I also wondered about some of the selections on this disc. Why not include Saint-Saëns's Concertpiece, rather than the lesser and less familiar Romances?

I can recommend this disc for lovers of the particular selections included. Several of them are not readily available on other recordings -- and there's a reason for that.

Don't say you don't know about horn music and french music! This album will give you very very comfortable music and very good mood! very good pieces and good reocrding for hornists, it has very beautiful horn sound and beautiful music!! If you are a horn player, you will love this CD, if you just a music lover, you will love this great album!! Don't miss this CD!