A Noble & Melancholy Instrument Alec Frank-Gemmill & Alasdair Beatson

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Horn Sonata in F Major, Op. 17:
• 1 I. Allegro moderato 08:30
• 2 II. Poco adagio, quasi andante 01:22
• 3 III. Rondo: Allegro moderato 04:56
• Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Adagio & Allegro for Horn & Piano, Op. 70:
• 4 Adagio 04:30
• 5 Allegro 04:58
• Franz Joseph Strauss (1822-1905):
• 6 Nocturne, Op. 7 05:35
• Gioachino Rossini (1792-1886):
• 7 Prelude, Theme and Variations 10:18
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921):
• 8 Romance in E Major, Op. 67 07:46
• Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936):
• 9 Rêverie, Op. 24 03:33
• Paul Dukas (1865-1935):
• 10 Villanelle 06:44
• Gilbert Vinter (1909-1969):
• 11 Hunter's Moon 06:20
• Total Runtime 01:04:32

Info for A Noble & Melancholy Instrument

The 19th century saw huge developments in the design of many musical instruments. In some cases changes were adopted more or less universally: the fortepiano that Mozart knew, a five-octave instrument constructed entirely of wood, had by around 1900 grown into the modern grand piano with over seven octaves and a cast-iron frame. With other instruments progress was less streamlined. As late as 1865, the natural, valveless horn of Beethoven's time remained the instrument of choice for Brahms when he wrote his famous Horn Trio, and when valves began to be introduced, makers and musicians in Germany, France and Vienna favoured different solutions, offering different results in terms of sound and requiring different playing techniques.

The present disc is a unique combination of recital and history lesson, with a young British team performing music from between 1800 and 1942 on no less than eight different historic instruments: four horns and four pianos. This gives us the opportunity to hear the works on instruments that the different composers would have recognized, whether Beethoven's Sonata in F major (a natural horn from 1800 and a fortepiano from 1815) or the Villanelle by Paul Dukas from 1906 (an early 20th-century cor à pistons and a Bechstein from 1898). Both notable performers on modern instruments, Alec Frank- Gemmill and Alasdair Beatson here revel in the sonic possibilities offered by the historic instruments with results that are as delighting as they are enlightening.

Alec Frank-Gemmill, horn
Alasdair Beatson, piano

Alec Frank-Gemmill
Horn player Alec Frank-Gemmill is recognised internationally for the exceptional breadth and depth of his music-making. Principal Horn of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, he divides his time between concertos, recitals, chamber music and orchestral playing. A proponent of the historical natural horn as well as of the modern instrument, his repertoire stretches from the baroque era to the latest contemporary compositions.

Alec has appeared as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Sinfonietta Köln. He also regularly performs concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Highlights include the Ligeti Hamburg Concerto under Principal Conductor Robin Ticciati and Mozart's Horn Concerto K. 417 on the natural horn directed by Richard Egarr. Alec's recording of the Concertino for Horn by Weber released by Linn records has met with great critical acclaim.

Artist in Residence at the 2013 Lammermuir Festival, Alec made his Wigmore Hall debut that same year. He has gone on to perform as a soloist in numerous festivals including Spitalfields, Ryedale, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and St. Magnus. A regular at Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, Cornwall UK, Alec is highly sought-after to perform chamber music. His collaborators include pianist Alasdair Beatson and violinists Alexander Janiczek, Philippe Graffin and Pekka Kuusisto.

A grant from Creative Scotland enabled Alec to develop his interest in historical performance. This culminated in a triumphant evening of baroque horn concertos in Shoreditch as part of the 2015 Spitalfields Summer Festival. Alec is also at the cutting edge in rediscovering not just instruments from the 18th but also the 19th century, such as the rotary-valve and piston horn. His debut recording for the BIS label showcases these instruments and will be released in March 2017. Alec appears at the Wigmore three times this season - in a solo recital, as part of a trio, and with the period instrument group Ensemble Marsyas.

As a guest with various orchestras Alec can often be heard playing principal horn. He has performed this role frequently with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Last summer he played for the first time with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink.

Having himself studied in Cambridge, London and Berlin, Alec was recently appointed Professor of Horn at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His teachers have included Hugh Seenan, Radovan Vlatković and Marie-Luise Neunecker. Alec is the recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Fellowship 2014 and is a member of the BBC New Generation Artists scheme.

Booklet for A Noble & Melancholy Instrument