BaL 5.12.20 - Strauss: Horn Concerto no. 2

[gurnemanz]

Speaking as someone for whom melodies of any kind aren't a prerequisite for engaging with music, I would have to say that I disagree with this. I found it memorable from the first hearing, even if (in common with most horn concertos) it doesn't stray outside the received nostalgic and/or bucolic vocabulary of the instrument, although in late Strauss you wouldn't expect anything else.

Thanks for putting into words the way I feel about this work.

[Leinster Lass]

Speaking as someone for whom melodies of any kind aren't a prerequisite for engaging with music, I would have to say that I disagree with this. I found it memorable from the first hearing, even if (in common with most horn concertos) it doesn't stray outside the received nostalgic and/or bucolic vocabulary of the instrument, although in late Strauss you wouldn't expect anything else.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This was the work that first made me appreciate Strauss’s music. That was when the work hadn’t even reached its 20th anniversary. My appreciation of it has never diminished.

[Nick Armstrong]

Oh dear. I'd no idea that even distinguished horn players had it in for Strauss No. 2. I think it's an absolutely gorgeous piece and from the first time I heard it (about 50 years ago), the tune at the start lodged itself in my head. I love it. But I'm glad we agree on the Tuckwell/Kertesz record. I listened to it again this evening and it really is superb playing –and far, far more interestingly accompanied than his remake.

My feelings precisely! (40 years for me, but still...!). Sorry, Tony!

I think there are some great, long late-Strauss melodies (I’m whistling one now). Oh and Alpie, I love a bit of fruity Dresden horn-sound in this piece (raspberry Damm? )

[Leinster Lass]

My feelings precisely! (40 years for me, but still...!). Sorry, Tony!

I think there are some great, long late-Strauss melodies (I’m whistling one now). Oh and Alpie, I love a bit of fruity Dresden horn-sound in this piece (raspberry Damm? )

Marvellously melismatic!

[CallMePaul]

This is not a piece I know and as far as I can remember I have never heard it - live, broadcast or recorded. I do, however, question the use of a distinguished horn player to review a horn concerto (I also note that a clarinettist is reviewing the copland next week). I am sure that Sarah Willis has played the concerto herself and will therefore have strong views on how it should be played, which will affect her judgement on others' performances. Please can we have fewer performers reviewing recordings - magazines such as Gramophone do not have reviews from active performers!
I assume that this will be a distanced programme as I believe that the reviewer lives in Berlin?

[jayne lee wilson]

This is not a piece I know and as far as I can remember I have never heard it - live, broadcast or recorded. I do, however, question the use of a distinguished horn player to review a horn concerto (I also note that a clarinettist is reviewing the copland next week). I am sure that Sarah Willis has played the concerto herself and will therefore have strong views on how it should be played, which will affect her judgement on others' performances. Please can we have fewer performers reviewing recordings - magazines such as Gramophone do not have reviews from active performers!
I assume that this will be a distanced programme as I believe that the reviewer lives in Berlin?

But Sarah is a very seasoned broadcaster, interviewer and presenter on the DCH (and elsewhere https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...=sarah+willis+), a brilliant, open-minded communicator with a vocal delivery most here should find engaging; and as I said, very adventurous in her recording choices. I will listen to this programme because she's doing it, despite my difficulties with the piece.

Gramophone has articles and reviews from music producers, musical academics and music professionals of many kinds...so why not performers?

All the matters is their range of knowledge of the recorded catalogue, and the ability to write or speak engagingly about it. The recently noted lack of HIPPS-awareness in BaL is a serious restriction, but this extends to other music professionals used, not just performers.
And those omniscient obsessive reviewer collectors, those classic writers, from Robert Layton or Lionel Salter to Richard Osborne, Jon Swain, David Threasher and Rob Cowan, have always been quite rare.

[Nick Armstrong]

But Sarah is a very seasoned broadcaster, interviewer and presenter on the DCH (and elsewhere https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...=sarah+willis+), a brilliant, open-minded communicator with a vocal delivery most here should find engaging

Indeed she is - her episode of Inside Music on Saturday afternoon earlier this year was a treat (including a fulsome tribute to her former teacher, wor Tony )

[BBMmk2]

Ah, Sarah Willis, yes, she knows!

[vinteuil]

Indeed she is - her episode of Inside Music on Saturday afternoon earlier this year was a treat (including a fulsome tribute to her former teacher, wor Tony )

... 'fulsome'. Really, Nick??

.

[Ein Heldenleben]

She's quite pushy & was v skilled at getting beside Rattle in group photos & part obscuring him with shoulder or horn ...

Whereas Simon Rattle, like all conductors , shuns the limelight...

[Nick Armstrong]

... 'fulsome'. Really, Nick??

.

Seemed so to me ... (Have I mis-spelt it...? )

[vinteuil]

Seemed so to me ... (Have I mis-spelt it...? )

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fulsome

I know some contemporary usage has 'fulsome' meaning 'generous' : it more often historically - and for most even now - implies egregious flattery.
Just need to know how you were using this tricky word...

.

[Richard Barrett]

I do, however, question the use of a distinguished horn player to review a horn concerto

Really? I would imagine that an expert in the subject would at least potentially have some fascinating things to say about the work, knowing it so to speak from the inside. Yes she probably has some strong ideas about interpretation, but, as we're all aware, so do many music critics, often with less reason!

[silvestrione]

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dic...nglish/fulsome

I know some contemporary usage has 'fulsome' meaning 'generous' : it more often historically - and for most even now - implies egregious flattery.
Just need to know how you were using this tricky word...

.

This had come up before recently? I must say I disagree, and think it more often means 'generous', and the context in which it was used above surely makes clear it means that.