Customer Reviews

Mozart: Horn Concertos

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For this recording, Lowell Greer himself reconstructed a natural horn of the type that was invented during Mozart's later years and was generally played in orchestras at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He is pictured holding the horn in the booklet, and the pride in his eyes is only natural, for this is a wonderful-sounding instrument that seems ideal for playing Mozart's playfully beautiful Horn Concertos. Greer and the Philharmonia Baroque play in a relatively straightforward, perhaps even somewhat naive manner, but this is not necessarily a criticism: At all events, the disc can give enormous listening pleasure (as is presumably evidenced by the fact that I have often heard it being played on German radio stations). The engineering puts the horn on the left of proceedings and in the centre of attention, and it is truly wonderful to listen to this glorious sound. Musicologically, I suspect that the Sony Vivarte recording made by Ab Koster and the Canadian Tafelmusik ensemble is a little more refined (and the music has definitely been reconstructed in a more accurate manner there); but nonetheless, the Harmonia Mundi recording is a true classic and is well worth the listening to.

I had heard tracks from Lowell Greer's Mozart Horn Concertos played on natural horn several times on various classical music radio stations without paying attention to what was going to be played and by whom. So it actually took quite some time to determine that the horn soloist was playing on the hand horn of Mozart's era, because Lowell Greer's virtuoso technique and outstanding musicality made the instrument sound as clear and smooth as the more modern valve horn. Yet the rich, full tone of his natural horn is more lovely than the valve horn. It now becomes clear why hornists resisted changing to the valved instrument up until Wagner's lifetime. While perhaps gaining some more chromatic fluency with the valve horn, the different keyed hand horns had their own recognizable color and feeling in each specific length of tubing that produced the proper key. It is now more understandable why classical musicians attributed so much character and personality to each different tonality.

Thank you, Lowell Greer, for providing such a definitive example of how excellent music and musicians must have been in the classical era!

Dr. Greer plays these Concertos on the early type of instrument they were written for, the valveless natural horn. Notes are changed by putting the hand in and out of the bell and use of the lip. For about the first 3 minutes this all matters and then just the awesome performance of the Mozart concerto takes over. It really doesn't matter what type of French Horn is used, these are wonderful interpretations. Hearing them played flawlessly on a period instrument is just icing on the cake. The sound is more hornlike than modern instruments and it is hard to believe that valves are not involved. Bravo!

I bought this for my daughter, who is a French horn nut. She has enjoyed listening to it very much. Shipping was fast even over the holidays. Thank you!

Mr. greer has a lively and energetic interpretation of there concerti. They sparkle! Thanks Mrs. Mozart and Greer.