Concerto for Horn and Orchestra
(1971)
Duration: 22'
Horn; 1+pic.1+ca.1+bcl.1+cbn/4[+3]210/3perc/hp.pf(cel)/str
Commissioned by Mario di Bonaventura for the Dartmouth Congregation of the Arts, USA

World Premiere:  May 1, 1971, Musica Nova, Glasgow
Barry Tuckwell, horn
Scottish National Orchestra
conducted by the composer

U.S. Premiere:  1977
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Barry Tuckwell, horn
Stanislaw Skrowaszewski, conductor

Publisher:  Chester Music Ltd

Critical Acclaim:

...In the closing part three [orchestral] horn players take up separate positions behind sections of the audience so that the sound is coming from all quarters of the hall...in this absorbing work, the element of display is ideally balanced by lyricism.
— Malcolm Rayment, The Glasgow Herald

Miss Musgrave's various concertos — all written in the last 10 years — have a vitality of invention and intellect all too rare in modern music.
— Stephen Walsh, The Observer

...The piece is continuously inventive, elegant, clear — and deeply felt; humane in a special way...But the piece, while hooking firmly to the musical tradition, is never derivative or even particularly referential...

Every part of this piece, fascinating and intelligent as it may be, is idiomatic and logical for its setting, and the Oakland Symphony was in its element, playing it beautifully. The audience knew it...
— Charles Shere, Tribune (Oakland, California)

Composer's Note:

The starting point for this work was a picture postcard from Mexico by Barry Tuckwell: It showed several monolithic statues surrounding a central figure. This inspired the idea for the last section of the work where the orchestral horns are strategically placed round the perimeter of the hall, thus "surrounding" the soloist.

Throughout the work the brass section form a kind of "concertante" group set against the rest of the orchestra — they break up the mood of the opening misterioso with their parodia con violenza and later overwhelm the capriccioso with wild fanfares. The percussion, spread around the back of the orchestra, helps to build this climax, and when the trumpets take up new positions on either side of the platform, the scene is set for the horns to move out into the hall to explore the spatial effects of this arrangement in a very dramatic way.

One particular effect used in the Concerto came about after Barry Tuckwell had heard some recordings of Don Ellis where he uses an extra valve to allow for quarter tones. With the horn some of the natural harmonics are a quarter of a tone flat, so in certain registers a quarter tone scale is perfectly feasible!

Recordings:

Concerto for Horn and Orchestra
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Michael Thompson, horn
NYOS 004

Concerto for Horn and Orchestra
Scottish National Orchestra
Thea Musgrave, conductor
Barry Tuckwell, horn
LP Decca HEAD 8

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