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One thing not often encountered today are the very different “schools” of horn playing of days gone by, one of the most distinctive of the recent past being the French school with small bore, piston valve horns and a wide vibrato. If you have never heard this school of playing, the following recording of IHS honorary member Lucien Thévet performing Paul Dukas Villanelle with pianist Claude Ambrosi is one that must be heard.
This video is a part of a series recently put up on YouTube by “jorgevalencia1975,” and this photo of Thévet with his Selmer piston horn is linked from his bio on the IHS website. I love this recording for several 
reasons but really high on the list is the opening. He performs it with valves and it is so dreamy and melancholy. I think most people I ever hear do this work play it a lot like the Dennis Brain recording but there is something beautiful that is gained with the slower tempo on this old LP.
Another topic that is one people wonder about in terms of performing this work is about the echo horn passage. For my upcoming recital I have been practicing this work on a very similar piston valve horn, and on it I discovered that not only are legato passages a joy to play on piston valves but also the echo horn is really easy to manage on that small bell. No wonder the French asked for it all the time! Listen to his tone in the echo passage; it sounds very much like stopped horn, as I have also found. It only confirms some of my thinking in this prior article on the topic of echo horn in the Villanelle.
Get past the tone and vibrato if it bothers you, this is a recording with style. It is one every serious performer of the Villanelle should hear with an open mind, classic French playing from a great player.
