The musical compositions of Richard Burdick
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Opus 118a

Horn Concerto No. 3
horn with strings

Fall 1998

(See also version for horn with brass quintet, Opus 118
and the version for trumpet with wind quintet, Opus 118b )

Written by Richard Burdick in the fall of 1998. This was written with the natural horn in mind as the soloist. The natural horn is quite a soft instrument the way it was played as a “hand horn” in the classical and romantic era. This quiet instrument made it very difficult for the accompanying brass instruments to play. So the final version is for modern valve horn with brass quintet. There is also a version for horn with string orchestra, it’s a nice version, but really this work is best for the brass ensemble. With the brass, it’s easier to hear the intertwine lines in the different parts.

The sheet music is available from MusicaNeo.com

String version Brass version

Watch the demo on youtube & please share it with your friends.

version for horn & strings

version for horn & brass quintet

The solo horn part can be downloaded free from IMSLP.

I Ching scale #49: C+D-Eb+F G+A+B (minor)

#31: C#-D-Eb+F Gb+Ab+Bb-B

Movement one is in two parts:
a choral like slow introduction
and an allegro.
The score is 15 pages long at it is estimated to be 5 minutes long.

Movement two is an Adagio five score pages long.

Movement three is sort of a scherzo starting in 3/4 time, but slowing down into 9/8 time as it develops.

Movement four starts like a rondo, but develops into a section of repeated eighth notes, then comes back to the rondo faster and finishes loud with a faster repeated tones section.
This movement premiered June 2000 at the Music in The Mountains festival in Grass Valley, California. With Richard Burdick planing the solo Natural horn part. The other movements still need a premiere.
Old text:
Movement four of my concerto for natural horn with brass quintet based on the I Ching hexagrams 49 (changing) & 31 (attraction) in the keys of E and C is basically in an ABAB form with the B section a variation of the happy melody of the A section. Each new section is slightly fast then the previous in the ratio of 3:4.

About the dynamics: In looking through the score as I prepare this page (July 2007), I see there may be room for more dynamics. This is partially because this piece was written for solo natural horn; a very hard piece. The dynamics of the brass quintet in the natural horn version need to be quite quiet. These are all dependent on the soloist. I have added Forte's and above at the end of the fourth movement.

Opus 118	Concerto for horn (#3) with brass quintet	Fall '98	e 15 min	49, 31
	Andante - Allegro	9/1998	e 5 min.	49, 31
	Adagio	9/1998	x 2 m	49, 31
	Scherzo	10-11/'98	x 2:50 m bs	49, 31
	Rondo - Allegretto	10-11/'98	x 4.31 m bt	49, 31