Weber: Horn Concertino in E minor, Op. 45

The multi-award-winning Scottish Chamber Orchestra returns with Weber Wind Concertos, the sixteenth album in its celebrated series with Linn. This recording gives the internationally acclaimed principal musicians a chance to dazzle in Weber’s virtuosic and thrilling concertos.

The Clarinet Concerto is one of the cornerstones of the clarinet repertoire.

For this performance Peter Whelan has reconstructed a version of the 1822 Bassoon Concerto score rather than employing the commonly used 1865 version.

In a unique twist Alec Frank-Gemmill performs his own version of the cadenza in the virtuosic Horn Concertino famous for its chromatic pitches and the requirement of multiphonic chords.

The SCO has an impressive recording history including a Grammy-nominated set of Brahms Symphonies, winning the Orchestral category of the BBC Awards in 2009 and a 2011 ECHO Klassik Award for its Mozart recordings, in addition to much critical acclaim.

Spanish clarinettist Maximiliano Martin is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most exciting and charismatic musicians of his generation.

Peter Whelan, one of Europe’s leading exponents of historical and modern bassoon, won a Gramophone Award for his recording of Vivaldi bassoon concertos with La Serenissima.

Alec Frank-Gemmill is much in demand as a soloist and is also frequently invited to play principal horn with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic and the Philharmonia.

On this disc, the exclusive Chandos artist, Michael Collins, plays the clarinet in three works for clarinet and orchestra by Weber, as well as conducting the City of London Sinfonia. The disc also includes Weber’s horn concertino, featuring the soloist Stephen Stirling.

The two concertos and the concertino for clarinet and orchestra are considered among the repertoire cornerstones for today’s clarinettists. Weber wrote the works for his personal friend Heinrich Bärmann, the principal clarinettist of the Munich court orchestra, whose own embellishments of the works (changes of articulation, extra grace notes, and even an added accompanied cadenza in the first concerto) have been incorporated in the performances recorded here. Michael Collins suggests that these changes ‘do not make the music any easier to play, but they do make it more thrilling’.

Each of the works displays a well-balanced mix of virtuosity, daring, humour, and sheer beauty, and throughout, the role of the orchestra is much more than a mere accompaniment. The woodwind solos, a trio of horns, blaring trumpets, and dashing violins contribute greatly to making these works so captivating.

Written in 1806, when Weber was just nineteen years old, the virtuosic Horn Concertino pushed known horn techniques to new limits, requiring the soloist among other feats to produce a ‘four-note chord’, the technique known as multiphonics. The work is today considered a gem in the horn repertoire, and our soloist, Stephen Stirling, is ‘a player gifted with the utmost sensitivity and imagination, which is shown through the beautiful way he shapes musical phrases and the extraordinary range of colours he employs’ – in the words of the late Richard Hickox.

Hermann Baumann is one of the world’s greatest horn players. He won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich 1964 (Jessye Norman was second that year, and won in 1965), and from then on he played in some of the greatest orchestras, conductors and ensembles in the world. Claudio Abbado asked him during rehearsals in Rome for Mahler 6 ‘why aren’t you in Berlin?’ He played with Concerto Amsterdam under Jaap Schröder, for Karl Munchinger and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and for Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus Wien. A lifetime of concert giving around the world and an extensive discography has ensured that his stupendous technique and versatility, and characterful playing has been heard and admired by thousands of music lovers.

This extensive survey of his art embraces the major concertos and some rarities, some fascinating chamber works, and a selection of virtuoso showpieces that display the artistry of this multi-faceted musician.

Booklet essay by Hermann Baumann, recollecting his career.