The musical compositions of
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Opus 318

Handsome Horn Solos
In I Ching Scales No.'s 1 - 16
For natural horn (or valve horn) and piano
(35 minutes if non-stop)

A diversity of nice pieces 1 - 4 minutes long

C. Early February 2022

 

The horn part is available from MusicaNeo
FREE         Natural Horn       Valve (F) horn        FREE   

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Find the recording here

Movement one on valve horn live

Movement two on valve horn live

Movement three on valve horn live

Movement four on valve horn live

Movement five on valve horn live

Movement six on valve horn live

Movement seven on valve horn live

Movement eight on valve horn live

Movement nine on valve horn live

Movement ten on valve horn live

Movement eleven on valve horn live

Movement twelve on valve horn live

Movement thirteen on valve horn live

Movement fourteen on valve horn live

Movement fifteen on valve horn live

Movement sixteen on valve horn live

Program Notes:

This is a set of 16 short pieces 1-4 minutes long written to be performed on natural horn (most of them are quite easy to play for a pro).The difficulty curve is sort of like the works of Mozart, where he got complex in his middle period, then eased off. Movement one is quite easy and beautiful. Movements two and three are quite hard, but moderate on a double horn, then I eased off, finding that works with mostly the open harmonic series can be original sounding and not very hard.

I hadn't work on the natural horn in quite a while. This time around I have improved my intonation primary with the understanding that the "E" needs to be 14 cents higher (which I knew) but ALSO the 9th harmonic "D" needs to be lower. This involves hand movement in the bell much more often. There was a master class with Hermann Baumann, where I saw Mr. Baumann moving his hand for the "E" I asked about what he was doing, he said he was not moving his hand for the "E." I was surprised that he did that unconsciously!

This set of Natural horn solos is really quite interesting to create and I fell I have accomplished a number of works that are actually quite easy to play on the Natural horn. As I proceed I expect they will get even better.

In starting each of these works, I start with a template of horn parts in all 12 keys Bb Basso up to A alto. I write the scale out for each key and transpose them. I look for the biggest number of "bugle notes" in the key, with a definite easy tonic; an open tone or maybe an "A".

Each work stays solidly in the 7 or 8 tone scale; without non-scale-tones.

I have recently been inspired by Anton Reicha, where he developes his works by repeating melody or accompaniment in different parts; it is surprising how well this works. In some of the works, I start as simple as I dare, then I flip parts, then add to it, flip & add then a nice work is practically done!

The movement that accelerates (no. 14) is easy note (tone) wise, but I found it very difficult to perform, but it needs in the 5/4 time signature, which was one of reason it was so hard count.

The really good news for me about these works is that because I wrote them, the way I play them is the definitive version.

 

No.	Name	primary time signature	Speed	horn Key	Date written	Length
01-01	Projective	5/4	Moderato 86	F	1/2022
02	Cinnamon	2/4	Allegro - 116	F	1/2022
03	Cloud Burst	5/8	Allegro - 232	E	1/2022
04	Cooking	4/4	Moderato 92	D	1/27/'22
05-32		5/4	introspective92	A	1/29- 2/1/2022
06-57	Dark Source		Allegro - 128	D
07-48	Addiction	5/4	Moderato - 112	Eb
08	Wrong Place	5/4	Andante con moto - 96	C
09-46	Gang	5/4	Andante - 78	Eb
10-06	Biography	5/4	Allegro - 132	D	2/4-10/'22
11-47	Great Efforts	9/8	Allegro vivo - 88	Eb	2/8-11/'22
12-64	Preacher	5/4	Allegro vivo - 137	E
13-40	Giving Birth	4/4	Slow - 72	F	2/15/'22	3:40
14-	Ensemble	5/4	Andante - 69		2/8-13/'22
15-29	Idol	5/4	Allegro - 120	E
16-04	Worship	4/4	Allegro - 132	F	2/9-14/'22

 

No.	Name	primary time signature	Difficulty	horn Key	horn range in F	key
01-01	Projective	5/4	very easy	F	*	F
02	Cinnamon	2/4	hard	F	C4-C6	F
03	Cloud Burst	5/8	hard rythym	E	G3-G5	F#
04	Cooking	4/4	medium	D	C#3-F#5*	F#
05-32		5/4		A	A3-C5*	F#
06-57	Dark Source			D	C#4-D5*	F#
07-48	Addiction	5/4		Eb	Bb3-Ab4*	G
08	Wrong Place	5/4		C	D4-C#5*	G
09-46	Gang	5/4		Eb	Bb3-F5*	G
10-06	Biography	5/4		D	D4-Eb6*	G
11-47	Great Efforts	9/8		Eb	Bb3-F#5*	G#
12-64	Preacher	5/4		E	B3-G5*	G#
13-40	Giving Birth	4/4	hard	F	E4-F#5	G#
14-	Ensemble	5/4	hard		D#4-F#5	G#
15-29	Idol	5/4	medium-hard	E	G3-	G#
16-04	Worship	4/4	moderate	F	E4-G5*	A

 

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Music Samples:

Handsome Horn solos movement one horn part

Handsome Horn solos movement two horn part

Handsome Horn solos movement three VALVE horn part

Handsome Horn solos movement four VALVE horn part

Handsome Horn solos movement six VALVE horn part

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Buy sheet music:

The horn part is available from MusicaNeo
FREE         Natural Horn       Valve (F) horn        FREE  

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