A Horn Like Dennis Brain Played

This past week a new horn arrived in the mail which has been most interesting to play. Last summer was the first time I had ever given a single B-flat much of a trial, and I used one on a work on my fall recital, playing the Rheinberger Sonata, as it was very appropriate for that work. This tied in also with a personal project to improve my B-flat horn fingerings, something not emphasized by my teachers. With progress toward that goal I started looking for a better single B-flat, and when I was in Wichita very recently I was able to try a couple of used Alexander single B-flat horns.

When I first saw this horn at the shop at Wichita Band Instrument I realized that this was essentially the same model and era of horn that Dennis Brain performed on in most of his classic recordings we know and love, an Alexander model 90 single B-flat horn with stopping valve. This particular model 90 is in rose brass instead of brass and I have added an extension to the stopping valve, visible in the photo, so that I can use it to finger a perfectly tuned G and F-sharp at the bottom of treble clef. And of course Brain customized his in various ways, with a new leadpipe, several different F extensions in use in place of the stopping valve, etc. This one also has rebuilt valves, so it plays much better than the average horn that is fifty-something years old.

I will have more on this horn in the future but in short this is a very sweet horn. It has a lovely, light tone color and is very responsive, and it is very easy to hold, light in the hands. Switching to a horn such as this certainly made a lot of sense for a solo artist such as Dennis Brain.

This weekend I gave the Alexander a good test drive, playing two of the Songs of Praise by Paul Basler for communion at church. They went very well and I look forward to giving the horn a more thorough test drive after the IHS event this summer.