Random Monday: Enlightenment, confusion and amazement

Found in translation
More and more international visitors have been using Google Translate in order to read Horn Matters in their native language. At one time we had a translation tool but it was clunky and not very pretty. Not many people used it, so I took it offline.

These days it is possible to implement the Google API and make something much more elegant and useful. In the upper right column we have a brand-spanking-new translator that I hope will get lots of use.

Body embouchure
I wasn’t sure what to think of this item that I found – a forum post on what the writer calls his “body embouchure.”

I honestly could not get over the infantile notion that “body embouchure” was just a fancy word for my bum.

Zodiac magic
This find was equally odd: “Saturn Conjunct Mars, Jupiter in Capricorn, The French Horn and Self Flagellation by Nota.”

We’re “French horn”?
Continuing with the confusion, I don’t see (or imagine) a French horn in a heavy metal band so the reference below must mean something other than the instrument we know and love.

There’s an apt description of Vancouver metal band Bison B.C. on the record-company website: Bison B.C.’s oeuvre is made up of “illness, abuse, apocalypse and French horn” and it’s generally “loud and sludgy, played by hairy dudes in dirty denim jackets,” says the description, written by a friend of the band. Right on.

Obituary
I was saddened to hear of the tragic death of Maurice Murphy. A celebrated trumpet player, Mr. Murphy was widely heard in the soundtracks of Harry Potter and Star Wars and other movies featuring music by John Williams.

Horn and violin symbiosis
James Tennison paints an angelic horn on the back of a violin.

Random videos

The Beethoven Sextet is a fun piece to play and this video captures a fantastic performance. According to a reliable source, the horn players in this video are most likely Hiroshi Matsuzaki on first and Tomohiro Yamamoto on second.

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This video was posted on the Horn Matters Facebook page and it is worth a repeat performance here. Things really get grooving at the 4:30 mark.

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Here is a rare recording of Mason Jones performing the Chabrier Larghetto for horn and orchestra.

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As a contrast here is a favorite horn player of mine – Peter Damm. This is the first movement of the Schoeck Concerto.

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