How did you come to be a period horn player?
Like most period horn players today I started off on the modern horn. The horn teacher I had when I was at school introduced me to the natural horn (the classical instrument used by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven etc) when I was in sixth form and I really took to it. When I went to music college (Royal Academy of Music, London) I already was really keen to study the instrument and then I went on and did specialist postgraduate courses firstly in France and then in Holland. At first I freelanced playing both modern and historical instruments but was fortunate enough to be able to specialise in the historic instruments quite quickly.
How many different horns do you have, and when is each one used?
Er…… I’m embarrassed to say I may have lost count. I’ve got three baroque horns (one for general repertoire, one is specially for Handel and another is specially for Vivaldi – seriously!), five classical natural horns (one is for general repertoire, one is specially for solo repertoire, two are original French orchestral instruments from the early 19th century, one is a copy of an early 19th century German instrument), I’ve got one 2 valve horn (for French repertoire c. 1830-40), seven piston horns (a Boosey, a Hawkes, a Boosey and Hawkes(!), a Mahillon, two Raoux’s, a Selmer – they’re all slightly different either in set up, date or the type of repertoire I’d use them for!), six rotary horns (two Uhlmanns, one Bohland und Fuchs, a Finke, a Kruspe and a Kopkia again use them all for different things), a vienna horn, a hunting horn, various tenor horns (I think four? Three with upright bells and one with a forward facing bell), my corno da tirarsi and my modern double! I think that’s 30!
What makes the corno da tirarsi special?
It’s really unique for a horn partially as it’s very high but mostly because of the addition of the slide. We know that Bach wrote for an instrument that he called a “corno da tirarsi”. He only specifies it in a handful of cantatas but we can see it being used in other Bach cantatas where he only refers to it as “Corno”. The identifying features of music for this instrument tends to be that it’s a single line (i.e. they don’t normally come in pairs – which is more normal when Bach is writing for the baroque horn), it tends to be very high and a lot more chromatic than normal horn writing. The problem is no instrument survives so the instrument I have is developed from a hypothesis of my colleague Olivier Picon. The instrument is based on other surviving instruments of the period (so the main body of the instrument is based on the Gottfried Reiche trumpet) but I put off buying one for a long time as I was worried that the day I bought it someone would find a dusty cupboard in Leipzig and find the sole surviving original languishing in the back and we’d find it to be totally different! There are only a handful of people playing this instrument at the moment so it’s really unusual to hear it being played.
How are you finding exploring Bach’s chorales with the corno da tirarsi?
It’s been great fun! It really is funny how people have gotten enthusiastic about it! France Musique did a feature on it the other week which I only knew about when I suddenly got loads of new followers on instagram – all from France! The main reason I started it was due to one of my colleagues from the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique setting up a virtual orchestra and choir to perform Ich will hier bei dir stehen from the St Matthew Passion (it’s still ongoing so you can join in here). I decided to contribute on the corno da tirarsi and then thought it might be fun to keep on doing “A Chorale A Day”. Mostly because I’ve been wanting to sit down are learn the instrument properly for a while but also it’s helpful to have small things to keep us going right now – especially things that keep us playing.
Finally, what piece of advice would you give to someone who wants to be a professional musician?
Look outside of your particular instrument or voice. I’ve found some of the most important learning experiences to have come from non-horn players.
How are you finding exploring Bach’s chorales with the corno da tirarsi?
It’s been great fun! It really is funny how people have gotten enthusiastic about it! France Musique did a feature on it the other week which I only knew about when I suddenly got loads of new followers on instagram – all from France! The main reason I started it was due to one of my colleagues from the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique setting up a virtual orchestra and choir to perform Ich will hier bei dir stehen from the St Matthew Passion (it’s still ongoing so you can join in here). I decided to contribute on the corno da tirarsi and then thought it might be fun to keep on doing “A Chorale A Day”. Mostly because I’ve been wanting to sit down are learn the instrument properly for a while but also it’s helpful to have small things to keep us going right now – especially things that keep us playing.
Finally, what piece of advice would you give to someone who wants to be a professional musician?
Look outside of your particular instrument or voice. I’ve found some of the most important learning experiences to have come from non-horn players.
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