Post by erik on Jan 8, 2022 13:19:56 GMT -5
A work for four French horns and orchestra by the late, great film music composer James Horner is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
James Horner: COLLAGE (FOR FOUR HORNS AND ORCHESTRA)
For three and a half decades, beginning with his score for the 1980 Roger Corman production Battle Beyond The Stars and concluding with his final scores in 2015-16 for The 33 and Southpaw, James Horner was unquestionably one of the most in-demand film composers in Hollywood, behind John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. And like those composers, Horner also found a fair amount of time to compose for the concert hall as well. The last such work of his was “Collage”, a twenty-five minute work for four French horns and orchestra, which was commissioned by the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the International Horn Society, though its premiere actually came at London’s Royal Festival Hall on March 27, 2015, less than three months before the composer’s untimely death in a plane crash in Ventura County, California. Scored for a sizeable symphonic orchestra, along with two pianos, a celesta, a xylophone, and other percussion instruments, “Collage” was the only such work to be scored for four horn soloists since Robert Schumann’s “Konzertstuck” in 1849-50. The players for whom “Collage” was written—David Pyatt, John Ryan, James Thatcher, and Richard Watkins, had worked on many of Horner’s film scores; and as such, he tabbed them as the soloists for the March 2015 premiere, overseen by Jaime Martin and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who also made the work’s world premiere recording.
Horns: DAVID PYATT, JOHN RYAN, JAMES THATCHER, RICHARD WATKINS
London Philharmonic Orchestra/JAIME MARTIN (Mercury Classics)
Included:
CONQUEST OF THE AIR
THE LUDLOWS/FROM “LEGENDS OF THE FALL”
KITTY HAWK
LITTLE WOLF/FROM “WOLF TOTEM”
RETURN TO THE WILD/FROM “WOLF TOTEM”
IRIS, PART 1/FROM “IRIS”
SUITE NO. 1/FROM “ALIENS”
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/DAVID ARNOLD
James Horner: COLLAGE (FOR FOUR HORNS AND ORCHESTRA)
For three and a half decades, beginning with his score for the 1980 Roger Corman production Battle Beyond The Stars and concluding with his final scores in 2015-16 for The 33 and Southpaw, James Horner was unquestionably one of the most in-demand film composers in Hollywood, behind John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. And like those composers, Horner also found a fair amount of time to compose for the concert hall as well. The last such work of his was “Collage”, a twenty-five minute work for four French horns and orchestra, which was commissioned by the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the International Horn Society, though its premiere actually came at London’s Royal Festival Hall on March 27, 2015, less than three months before the composer’s untimely death in a plane crash in Ventura County, California. Scored for a sizeable symphonic orchestra, along with two pianos, a celesta, a xylophone, and other percussion instruments, “Collage” was the only such work to be scored for four horn soloists since Robert Schumann’s “Konzertstuck” in 1849-50. The players for whom “Collage” was written—David Pyatt, John Ryan, James Thatcher, and Richard Watkins, had worked on many of Horner’s film scores; and as such, he tabbed them as the soloists for the March 2015 premiere, overseen by Jaime Martin and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who also made the work’s world premiere recording.
Horns: DAVID PYATT, JOHN RYAN, JAMES THATCHER, RICHARD WATKINS
London Philharmonic Orchestra/JAIME MARTIN (Mercury Classics)
Included:
CONQUEST OF THE AIR
THE LUDLOWS/FROM “LEGENDS OF THE FALL”
KITTY HAWK
LITTLE WOLF/FROM “WOLF TOTEM”
RETURN TO THE WILD/FROM “WOLF TOTEM”
IRIS, PART 1/FROM “IRIS”
SUITE NO. 1/FROM “ALIENS”
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/DAVID ARNOLD