Concertino for French Horn & Orchestra
I wrote the Concertino for French Horn & Orchestra mostly for the fun of imitating the Mozart Concertos, which I have practiced and worked on for many years. I enjoy the light crisp accompaniments in the final rondo movements and took it on myself to imitate them while modernizing both melody and harmony. My Concertino’s allegretto is preceded by a slow movement, Adagietto, while not Mozatean at all, has a jazzy feel.
As to my involvement with the French Horn, I got my start at age 12. Living in small midwestern town and attending a parochial with no music, I was taking piano lessons, with stops and starts, from age 8. When I went to public high school, the Band Director, having heard that I could read notation and had musical parents, pulled me out of a boring study hall and started me on Horn. My first instrument was apparently from a junkyard, but soon was replaced by a new single Horn in F, better, but still very hard to play. Lady luck soon intervened when a former orchestral Hornist came to the district to teach. He sold me his Alexander Horn, gave me a number of lessons and introduced me to the “glories” of the Horn. After that, and before college, I studied with Dale Fjerstad for a year at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (SIUE), who thrilled me by introducing me to Philip Farkas, principal Horn player in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Then, study with Thomas Holden at the University of Illinois (formerly first Horn in the Denver Symphony Orchestra), and after college graduation on to master teacher Kaid Friedel of the St. Louis Symphony.
Back to the Concertino. Truth is, when I wrote it, I had not played Horn for a while, due to a career change and less than ideal health. But then I read “A Devil to Play,” a humorous and engaging book by Jasper Rees about his “year long quest to master the Orchestra’s most difficult instrument.” He had decided to devote one year to re-learning the Horn and ending the year with a recital, which, by his reckoning might have gone better. Rees’s book was a great entertainment and it motivated me, along with my other involvements mentioned above, to compose this two-movement piece.
Form:
I. Adagietto: A B A C Coda
II. Rondo: A B A C A Coda
Instrumentation: Solo French Horn, 2 Flutes, 2 Bassoons, Strings
Duration:
I. Adagietto: 4:02
II. Rondo: 5:10
Total: 9:17
As to my involvement with the French Horn, I got my start at age 12. Living in small midwestern town and attending a parochial with no music, I was taking piano lessons, with stops and starts, from age 8. When I went to public high school, the Band Director, having heard that I could read notation and had musical parents, pulled me out of a boring study hall and started me on Horn. My first instrument was apparently from a junkyard, but soon was replaced by a new single Horn in F, better, but still very hard to play. Lady luck soon intervened when a former orchestral Hornist came to the district to teach. He sold me his Alexander Horn, gave me a number of lessons and introduced me to the “glories” of the Horn. After that, and before college, I studied with Dale Fjerstad for a year at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (SIUE), who thrilled me by introducing me to Philip Farkas, principal Horn player in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Then, study with Thomas Holden at the University of Illinois (formerly first Horn in the Denver Symphony Orchestra), and after college graduation on to master teacher Kaid Friedel of the St. Louis Symphony.
Back to the Concertino. Truth is, when I wrote it, I had not played Horn for a while, due to a career change and less than ideal health. But then I read “A Devil to Play,” a humorous and engaging book by Jasper Rees about his “year long quest to master the Orchestra’s most difficult instrument.” He had decided to devote one year to re-learning the Horn and ending the year with a recital, which, by his reckoning might have gone better. Rees’s book was a great entertainment and it motivated me, along with my other involvements mentioned above, to compose this two-movement piece.
Form:
I. Adagietto: A B A C Coda
II. Rondo: A B A C A Coda
Instrumentation: Solo French Horn, 2 Flutes, 2 Bassoons, Strings
Duration:
I. Adagietto: 4:02
II. Rondo: 5:10
Total: 9:17
| Brickey: Concertino Hn & Orch I |
| Brickey: Concertino Hn & Orch II |