- - Please visit: Legacy Horn Experience - -
I don’t require any specific solos at ASU, and I found that, compared to prior years, there were a few changes.
Lots of Strauss II
I heard Strauss II in the past too, but there was a clear uptick this time around. I think word has gotten out that it is one of the best solos for grad auditions (and it is). I would note however the following:
- Use the standard, published Eb part, and play everything in it as written,
- Don’t use a transposed part that probably has random issues that I hear as mistakes, and
- Above all don’t use that hand written horn part from the premier, the one on IMSLP, scanned by Hans Pizka.
Actually, nobody used that IMSLP part this year so far as I could tell, but people have in the past. It has so many differences compared to the standard published part — please spend the money and get the real Eb part and learn it well for a grad audition (and, this being a grad audition, you should be able to transpose Eb well by now).
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Erika Raum, and the challenge of interpreting a new work correctly
A few auditions in I learned that the first movement of this solo horn work was required by Michigan on grad auditions this year. It is a very nice work to play on an audition, and I hope to hear it more in the future!
My main observation was that people seem to not be able to interpret a new work well. As I see it, composers write music in such a way that you should play it basically as written. Certainly, that is the starting point! So, if an initial tempo is given very specifically, you should do it. Printed rhythms should be observed. Etc.
Looking around online, I see one key recording that some applicants may have referenced, and it is slow to the printed markings and to my mind not in the correct character either. And then another that pops up is even slower. Don’t imitate recordings like a parrot, think it over, especially a new work with few reference recordings, and be sure to convince me that you have clear ideas how to play the work that are based on the notations in the part.
The Jane Vignery Sonata, and finding the correct style
This work seems to not be required anywhere, and appears to have come up in the mix of solos organically (although it is on the list of options for the IHCA and the IWBC solo competitions). This is also a great audition solo and well worth checking out if it is new to you.
Written in the 1920s, it has a style that can be a challenge to grasp or convey well. For an audition (or competition) I think you need to highlight the many contrasts as the work opens, but there is another thing that I think you need to do before playing the work.
What will help you is to have worked through some Maxime-Alphonse etudes at a high level, especially books 3 and 4, which were written in the same period as the Vignery. The overall style is very similar (“light,” “French”). The reason this is such a key is the opening of this Sonata (and beyond) must not be played with the aggressive articulations typically learned in Kopprasch.
When the series continues the topic is excerpts.
Continue to Part III of series
