Tom Busby
The 3rd horn in Borsdorf's famous LSO horn section.
Not a lot is known about him - he became a teacher at the RCM, but here is a snatch of information which throws some light on the later disputes which arose between the styles of Adolf Borsdorf and his 4th horn, A E (Arthur) Brain:
So my 4th "B" will be about the teaching and playing style of the Brain dynasty which started with Arthur Brain and created by his son Aubrey.***
HS
*** I can strongly recommend that the book "Dennis Brain, a life in Music" by Stephen Gamble and and William Lynch (ISBN 978-1-57441-307-6) is worth reading to understand how the influence of Aubrey on the "English" style of horn playing developed through his teaching.
The 3rd horn in Borsdorf's famous LSO horn section.
Not a lot is known about him - he became a teacher at the RCM, but here is a snatch of information which throws some light on the later disputes which arose between the styles of Adolf Borsdorf and his 4th horn, A E (Arthur) Brain:
Seeing as you mentioned Tom Busby, let's hear what the man himself had to say about mouthpieces (writing in 1924):
"There has been considerable alteration of the tone during my career, the old mellow, rich and sweet tone… has entirely disappeared, and instead we have a hard, harsh and altogether foreign sound, which to my mind is unrecognisable to one who has heard (and with pleasure too) such players as Van Haute, Stennebruggen, Harper, Handley, Mann, Naldrett, Preatoni and Wendland… The change… has been brought about by Borsdorf’s method of teaching and instruction by him of a mouthpiece with a choked bore which simply kills off all possibility of producing the correct sound that one would wish to hear from a horn." (quoted in Humphries, 'Early Horn')
"There has been considerable alteration of the tone during my career, the old mellow, rich and sweet tone… has entirely disappeared, and instead we have a hard, harsh and altogether foreign sound, which to my mind is unrecognisable to one who has heard (and with pleasure too) such players as Van Haute, Stennebruggen, Harper, Handley, Mann, Naldrett, Preatoni and Wendland… The change… has been brought about by Borsdorf’s method of teaching and instruction by him of a mouthpiece with a choked bore which simply kills off all possibility of producing the correct sound that one would wish to hear from a horn." (quoted in Humphries, 'Early Horn')
HS
*** I can strongly recommend that the book "Dennis Brain, a life in Music" by Stephen Gamble and and William Lynch (ISBN 978-1-57441-307-6) is worth reading to understand how the influence of Aubrey on the "English" style of horn playing developed through his teaching.
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