French Horn Recommendations

[spinlps]

My daughter was asked to take up the French horn (she currently plays trumpet) next year for the school band / orchestra. I'm looking for recordings which highlight the horn to help familiarize her with the sound / capabilities of the instrument before she starts lessons this summer. Jazz, Classical, etc... any genre.

[Big Beat Steve]

John Graas?

Julius Watkins?

Two different approaches but both trailblazers in jazz on this instrument.

No idea, though, if this maybe is a bit too heavy stuff for somebody who is taking up the instrument

Edited February 17, 2017 by Big Beat Steve

[jeffcrom]

Jazz: Mark Taylor - QuietLand (Mapleshade). Out of print, but cheap copies are easy to find on Amazon. Excellent music, impeccably recorded.

Classical: Mozart's four horn concerti, but on a modern horn. (Historical "natural" horn may freak her out.). I like Barry Tuckwell's recording from the 1980s.

Edited February 17, 2017 by jeffcrom

[JohnS]

My favourite 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by JohnS

[Cyril]

FWIW  'Il Suono' by John Clark is a great jazz album.

 Tom Varner for the avant garde jazz.

 

[Rooster_Ties]

39 minutes ago, JohnS said:

My favourite

Mine too! - and the first disc I thought of.  Totally unlike any other French Horn date you'll ever hear (it's basically an expanded remake of Don Cherry's Complete Communion) -- and a really winner of a disc, highly recommended!!

[Cyril]

A good introduction to the 'jazz French horn.'

 

[Jim R]

3 hours ago, jeffcrom said:

Jazz: Mark Taylor - QuietLand (Mapleshade). Out of print, but cheap copies are easy to find on Amazon. Excellent music, impeccably recorded.

Classical: Mozart's four horn concerti, but on a modern horn. (Historical "natural" horn may freak her out.). I like Barry Tuckwell's recording from the 1980s.

My mom played the french horn, and her favorite players were Tuckwell and Dennis Brain (she loved Brain's recordings of the Mozart).

She (and I) enjoyed this Tuckwell recording with George Shearing on Concord (1986), which I gave her for Christmas many years ago:

[JSngry]

 

 

[JSngry]

Everybody's heard Alan Civil!

 

[Cyril]

 

[JSngry]

 

[JohnS]

The Rondo from Mozart's Horn Concerto No 4 is probably the most popular classical horn piece.

[sidewinder]

Some lovely french horn playing and textures on the Miles Davis/Gil Evans albums as well. Section playing, not sure if that counts. Same thing goes for the Junior Collins/Gunther Schuller work on 'Birth of the Cool'.

[JSngry]

 

 

[JSngry]

 

 

 

[Mark Stryker]

Just a personal aside: Julius Watkins (native Detroiter) is buried in a cemetery 5 miles from where I live in Plymouth, MI, west of Detroit proper. 

[Peter Friedman]

For classical music check out the Brahms Horn Trio, a favorite of mine along with the previously mentioned Mozart Horn Concertos.

julius Watkins is the man for jazz horn. 

[StarThrower]

2nd movement from Dvorak's famous New World Symphony No.9

[spinlps]

Thanks all! Appreciate all the responses.

[OliverM]

On 20/02/2017 at 11:32 PM, Peter Friedman said:

For classical music check out the Brahms Horn Trio, a favorite of mine along with the previously mentioned Mozart Horn Concertos.

julius Watkins is the man for jazz horn. 

Strong connection for Brahms who played the instrument and also Richard Strauss (the two horn concertos), son of a horn player.

For reference there is a Wikipedia list of classical compositions for the instrument:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_for_horn

For XXth century, I would try Ligeti's trio for Violin, horn and piano -- it is given here in Paris soon and I would like to see it if I can get a ticket.

 

[clifford_thornton]

I've been seeing Vincent Chancey in a variety of settings in town the last few years, and he's really amazing.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

julius watkins vol 2 dawg

 

wait wait wait wait..................

 

i just read yr post more carefully..........

 

 

she """""""was asked"""""""????  well does she WANT to or does she dig trumpet.   this sounds fishy.  im assuming this is high school or university band?  

 

its an OBSCURE INSTRUMENT.  and as a career instrument, tpt and FH are like apples n oranges, no?

 

unless her band director is Sun Ra "here, you will play bassoon now", i say she should do whatever u and her feel is best--- THE BAND DIRECTOR IS PRO FRENCH HORN CAUSE ITS A HARD ONE TO GET PPL TO PLAY, as i said, obsucre instrument

heres another way you could decide:

 

does she, or does she not, love THE SIDEWINDER?

 

if yes....KEEP TPT

 

if no....maybe FH?

Edited February 25, 2017 by chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

heres another way you could decide:

 

does she, or does she not, love THE SIDEWINDER?

 

if yes....KEEP TPT

 

if no....maybe FH?

Stripped of its instrument-specific outcome, I think that's a more or less definitive/foolproof decisional paradigm for all of life.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

agreed!