Search - Johann Friedrich Fasch, Johann Valentin Rathgeber, Johannes Sperger :: Virtuoso Concertos for Corno da cassia

Remarkable Rebirth of the Lost Corno da Cassia

Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 10/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thanks in large part to the efforts of Ludwig Güttler the once extinct corno da cassia, or trumpet horn, has returned to the ranks of brass instruments with quite a splash! After Güttler had master brass maker Friedbert Syhre of Leipzig build a modern replica of the corno da caccia back in the 1980's, Güttler has been carving out a wide swath in Baroque literature's high writing for horns. Before Güttler's recreation of the original instrument specialists were using valveless horns to attempt this stratospheric writing, generally to very mixed results indeed! Now we can hear previously near-impossible to play Baroque music for horns sounding out in glowing virtuosity.



Each of these selections offers a rich display showing off all the instrument can do.



The first selection by Zelenka gives us two corno da caccia mixing it up with two oboes and other instruments. Recorded back in 1987, the sound is excellent, sometimes an issue with horns. The two horn players acquit themselves very well.



The next piece, by the unknown Rathgeber, was originally scored for clarinet, or possibly trumpet. Güttler goes ahead and uses the corno da caccia and it sounds great to me. The samples on Amazon - try 6 and 8 - offer a good idea of this instrument's trumpet like tone quality, as well as its natural flair.



The third work, by Vivaldi, is one of that great Venetian's two major works for pairs of horns in F major, RV 538 and RV 539. This performance restores the original high wire notes Vivaldi later removed or simplified to make it possible to play the music. The excellent notes to this Cd suggest Vivaldi may have written this music for the gifted horn players at the Bohemian Court of Count Franz Anton von Sparck. If so, they must have been astonishing talents! Güttler and his second horn partner Kurt Sandau, make this a must hear! A thrilling piece of music by Vivaldi! Vivalid's writing shows off the horn quality of the instrument far better than the other works on this Cd, with wonderful plangent colors reminscent of the great brass choirs of Venice's church music from the glorious days of Gabrieli. The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli or try the more recent Gabrieli: Music for Brass Vol. 3



The fourth work by Fasch gives us yet another dual concerto, with a posse of other soloists, including two oboes. Two major horn players of the day, Johann George Knechtel and Anton Joseph Hampel, gave the piece with the Hofkapelle in Dresden during the mid Eighteenth Century. Fasch is an underrated composer who can be counted on for a high level of finish and thoughtful ideas.



The last composition by the forgotten Austrian composer J.M.Sperger flaunts an extraordinary barrage of Classical virtouso horn effects. Güttler really knocked me out here - if this piece is indicative of what's still out there, locked away in some monastery or castle, we have plenty of exhuberant Classical listening options still undiscovered!



A real eye - or better - ear-opener! Although a few horn players may cavil at how easy the corno da caccia makes this literature, I for one say go for it! Simply top drawer playing, and really great fun! Don't forget to try the samples!"

Sunday in the Park

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 10/10/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm sure someone will be disgusted with me for saying so, but this performance is weird. (I'd call it 'inauthentic' but that'd be opening a can of worms in chili sauce.) The instrument called a 'corno da caccia' is in no way an original baroque horn. It's Ludwig Güttler's own invention, built to his specs, essentially a round trumpet with a flared bell. He plays it with trumpet tonguing and trumpet articulations. The sound of the valves is unmistakable. Really, it sounds exactly like a sopraninio mellophone. Remember the mellophone? That's what kids started on in junior high, who couldn't yet do much with a French horn. And the notes to this CD frankly confess as much, i.e. that Güttler felt, in 1986 when this was recorded, that the baroque natural horn was too difficult to play. Perhaps he was correct then. However, I've seen and heard plenty of highly proficient natural horn players since, and some of them playing (gasp!) authentic hunting horns with upturned bells.



But the issue isn't purism, believe me. This funny-looking trumpet of Güttler's doesn't sound at all like a natural horn. The problem is exacerbated by the imbalance between the cornumpet and the orchestra; the dang thing is too closely miked and too loud, even though the rest of the band plays modern instruments also. There's far too much conservatory legato in this interpretation throughout, and such tepid tempos except in the overblown rondos, that composers as far apart in generations as Vivaldi and Johannes Sperger sound much the same. And what is that sound? Am I being too cruel to say it's something between the Hollywood Bowl Pops and the Tijuana Brass? It truly tips toward gazebo taste in the Sperger Concerto, when Güttler resorts to schmalz with deliberate blats and warbles.



This "corno da caccia" has no past, but does it have a future? Well, possibly, but someone will need to write music that suits its character better than these 18th C concertos for a totally different instrument."