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On instruments for beginners Gunther Schuller in Horn Technique keeps his advice simple, not taking a stand for any particular type of horn, noting on the very first page of his text to “seek professional advice from an established teacher or player.”
But what about using the Internet?
I’d like to digress for a moment now. Back in 1962 you were basically only going to get advice from either other players or teachers or a dealer in instruments, with some influence from print advertising. Today, it is almost like we have too many resources and voices. You would be well advised to dial down those voices to just a few trusted, established players or teachers when it comes to looking for horns. Don’t let random people on the Internet be your main resource.
Schuller does later in the book go into a bit more detail. It is from a time when double horns frequently had more intonation problems than the instruments a professional would choose to play today.
Except in special situations (e.g., the performance of works with especially high tessituras), I think the ideal instrument for today’s normal playing conditions is the double horn in B flat and F. It satisfies more of the demands made by the orchestral and chamber music repertoires than either the single F or the single B flat horns. The double horn, being a compromise instrument, admittedly has a theoretical loss in quality compared to the single horn. But this factor is more than outweighed by the gains in accuracy and flexibility.
Also notable is his apparent reference to the use of descant horns for high range performance in certain works, that was on the cutting edge in his time and is a tool to be used today to be sure.
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