A Weighty Issue

This summer I have several projects and performances in preparation. Besides presenting on the Wagner tuba at the IHS event in Denver I will be performing a work on Wagner tuba and a work on horn in recital there, and I will also be performing the last movement of Mozart 3 the week before. In relation to that and also working on a natural horn project this summer, these past few days I have been playing the Mozart on three different horns back to back to back, a natural horn (mostly the ASU McCracken), a double (Paxman 25A), and a triple (Paxman 83L).

I touch on this topic in my high horn book, the topic of weight. I have been playing the triple more than 90% of the time for several years, and I often say to people that it is hard to go back to a double from a triple. The triple is a great type of horn for a pro, especially a high horn player in an orchestral situation. But, at the same time, every horn is a compromise with good and bad points, there is no perfect horn. My triple is about as light as they come but after playing natural horn for ten or fifteen minutes it feels really, really heavy. There is also a way that notes speak on a lighter horn that a heavy instrument just can’t produce.

Switching around between all three horns the double horn really feels rather nice again; it hits a comfortable middle ground. It is the instrument I recorded both of my solo CDs on as well, so in that sense it is like an old shoe that feels right.

Further complicating things for me right now is the Wagner tuba. It is an instrument that feels very open and free blowing, and I will be playing horn and Wagner tuba on the same recital in Denver. Switching back and forth again the double seems to feel more like Wagner tuba than does the triple, it is the weight thing again I think, plus probably the fact that my Paxman 25A double is large and quite free blowing, more so than almost any other horn I have tried.

I recall at a horn event a few years ago Lowell Greer saying that he played a descant normally because it felt more like a natural horn. I can relate to that thought better now, I am sure that weight was a part of the issue for him. I love his recording of the Brahms Trio especially, it is on natural horn, on which he sounds very comfortable (Brahms and Beethoven: Music for Horn–HMF Classical Exp.).

In short in the next few weeks I will need to make a weighty decision as to what horn to play on at the IHS Denver event, a decision certainly influenced by instrument weight and the perception of the blowing qualities of each instrument.

UPDATE: I stuck with the triple. It was interesting to explore the double again but, as I said in the post, when you have played a triple horn a while it is really hard to go back.

UPDATE II: But in the bigger picture I ended up going back to a double horn as my main horn, it just feels the most comfortable in hitting that middle ground. It is a custom Geyer style horn.