Description
Renowned natural horn player Anneke Scott performs a collection of works by nineteenth-century French composer and hornist Jacques-François Gallay (1795-1864), based around his Douze Grands Caprices, Op. 32 of 1838.
Recorded as the culmination of a period of research into the composer, and believed to consist entirely of world premiere recordings, each highly spirited and improvisatory Caprice is framed by a selection from Gallay’s Préludes mesurés et nonmesurés, Op. 27 and his Fantasies Mélodiques, Op. 58.
Of special interest is the 1823 cor solo by Marcel-Auguste Raoux used for this recording – generously loaned from Oxford’s Bate Collection – which is identical to Gallay’s own instrument.
This disc was recorded by Resonus Classics and a download of this disc is available from their website.
This recording shows the remarkable skills of Anneke Scott to great advantage, and the colours which can be obtained with the hand-held instrument. A famous horn player of his time, admired by Berlioz, Paganini’s 24 Solo Violin Caprices probably inspired Gallay to produce this oeuvre. Doubtless Anneke Scott will go on to explore and record some of Gallay’s twelve horn concertos?
No professional or student horn player should be without it.
