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This series of articles expands on notes taken by Nicholas Smith in lessons with Roland Berger in 1977.
After finishing with the solos in the Brahms 2nd Symphony, Professor Berger turned the page of my Max Pottag 1st Book of French Horn Passages (many of us still used this 3 volume set at this time – mid 1970’s) to the Brahms 3rd Symphony and pointed to the solo in the 3rd movement. I played the solo and though he seemed satisfied, he said, “Now let’s do it the way we do it here in Vienna.” First, he told me to always play the written c” hold before beginning the solo on the pick-up to the first full bar of the solo. He said that the dotted rhythm pick-ups didn’t need to be as strict rhythmically as how we Americans play them. He told me not to use my tongue on the down-beat articulations in bars 5,6, and 7 but to slur into those down beats. Breaths are taken in bars 2 and 4 but then, no breath is to be taken until after the first beat of measure 8 and that should be the last one until the end of the solo. The small printed “hairpins” in the first four bars are just for phrasing and should not be exaggerated as most Americans do. Although you “go” or crescendo slightly, the crescendos should not “jump out” to the listener but should be smooth. You should play a nice big, but full sounding crescendo starting on M. 8 with a slight decrescendo on beats two and three of measure 10. Then the downbeat of bar 11 is to be more important and emphasized than the second beat and the “Turn” is given more time than most Americans allow for it. You make a slight crescendo on beats 2 and 3 of bar 11 to bar 12 and then make a gradual decrescendo to end the solo.
Horn 1 solo, from the 3rd Mvt. of the Third Symphony by Brahms
The series continues, with the next installment focusing on Tchaikovsky 5.
