O, du schöner Hörnerklang... (2008)

by Inge Spinette (fortepiano), Jan Michiels (fortepiano), Luc Bergé (horn), Marcel Ponseele (oboe), Yves Saelens (tenor)

For this recital of chamber music for horn, Belgian player Luc Bergé switches between a natural horn and modern valve horns. Valve horns can produce any note of the chromatic scale with ease by depressing a combination of valves, while a natural horn can only produce the notes of the overtone series, unless the pitch is altered by "stopping" the note by putting the right hand further into the bell, and altering lip tension. Stopping notes darkens and muffles their tone quality considerably, so except in the hands of the ... Read More

For this recital of chamber music for horn, Belgian player Luc Bergé switches between a natural horn and modern valve horns. Valve horns can produce any note of the chromatic scale with ease by depressing a combination of valves, while a natural horn can only produce the notes of the overtone series, unless the pitch is altered by "stopping" the note by putting the right hand further into the bell, and altering lip tension. Stopping notes darkens and muffles their tone quality considerably, so except in the hands of the most skilled natural horn specialist, there is a timbral inconsistency that can be distracting or annoying to modern audiences accustomed to the seamlessly even tones of valve horns. Valve horns only came into common uses in the early- to mid-nineteenth century, so proponents of period instrument practice are strong advocates for using the natural horn for music written before that time. Bergé plays a natural horn for the Beethoven, which was written in 1800, and a valve horn for the... Read Less