Mid-South Horn Workshop 2010, part 1

This past weekend, as you could guess from the title of the post, I was at the 2010 edition of the Mid-South Horn Workshop, held on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and hosted by Lanette Compton. I arrived late Friday morning in time to rehearse and hear some of the opening sessions. Today I will focus on Friday and tomorrow will focus on Saturday.

Friday my main goal was to rehearse and perform my piece for the afternoon regional artist recital. In thinking of what to play I realized there was a work many people have heard of but few have heard performed in the United States, the Neuling Bagatelle. For those not familiar, it is a low horn solo that is a standard on European low horn auditions. As to what it sounds like, it is somewhat comparable to some of the solos other Amercian brass players perform often by the likes of Clarke, Arban, and Pryor. I had memorized the work, the pianist was great, and the performance went almost as well as the rehearsal. I have always enjoyed low horn playing and as expected I got some good comments along the lines of having heard of the piece but had never actually heard it performed. The afternoon program I was on was somewhat long but quite varied between new and old works and I believe an enjoyable one for the audience.

Another goal at any horn event is seeing people. In particular on Friday I was able to speak at length with Nicholas Smith, horn professor at Wichita State, who has just finished up a new book on accuracy. I will have more on that soon and expect to sell this publication through Horn Notes Edition.

Friday night the recital featured Gregory Hustis and The Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse. The pre-concert showcase featured the TAMUK Horn Ensemble, from Texas A&M University Kingsville, directed by Jennifer Sholtis. I did not hear many of the other horn ensembles play at the event but the TAMUK group did a great job on their program.

Gregory Hustis has been Principal Horn of the Dallas Symphony since 1976 and was a student of Mason Jones at Curtis. It was also great to hear live his playing of standards including the Villanelle and the Rossini Prelude, Theme, and Variations.

The evening concert concluded with the Four Hornsmen. While they all sounded great, I believe the most buzz in the audience was generated by their low horn, Audrey Good. It may have also been a quirk of acoustics and where I sat but some serious low power and low articulations were produced! This was especially apparent on their concluding number, The Casbah of Tetouan for five horns by Kerry Turner, where they were joined by Gregory Hustis on third horn. Some serious, tight articulations in the low range of a type few players ever really master. It became a topic I worked briefly into my presentation the next morning.

By the end of the day Friday the weather was turning bad. Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of my Oklahoma adventure. And yes, it does snow in Oklahoma in March!

LINK TO PART II