Solo Concertino for Solo French Horn

Composer's Notes

The first movement to be composed was actually, Mvt. 2, Lament. It was composed in the 90’s as one movement of a larger piece, and it was originally titled “Meditation”. For whatever reason back then, I didn’t finish the other movements, but it was published as a separate piece by Jomar Press. After it was published, I realized that the title did not actually fit the mood of the piece. It was really a Lament – an intense expression of deep emotion. The piece is borderline tonal, and is built around the uneasy interval of the tritone. The piece offers the performer a chance to pull out all the stops in the pursuit of emotional expression – great swells and dying away of dynamics, sudden breaks, a mixture of quick and slow, slow down and speed up, short and long notes. Jomar Press went out of business with the decease of both of its founders, so I had the piece “back”, and I retitled it and decided to finish the original idea – to make it part of a triptych or trilogy. I added one more thing: an optional cadenza near the end, which could be composed or improvised by the performer (how to do this? One way is to take motifs from the piece and “mess around” (technical term) with them. In any case, Lament provides a very different kind of musical and emotional experience than the outer movements.

Movement 1, Lighthouse. Everyone has seen in person or in pictures a lighthouse – it is something unforgettable. The particular lighthouse that inspired me here was the famous lighthouse of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. In the modern age with GPS and all, lighthouses do not fulfill the life and death function they once had, but there will nonetheless always be an air of mystery, grandeur, and even foreboding about them. I took advantage of the ability of the horn to create the sound of ocean surf or breaking waves by inverting the horn mouthpiece loosely over the leadpipe and blowing air crescendo/decrescendo into it for a while [note: for hornists in possession of a degree of daring, you might add a projection on the wall of the picture of a lighthouse; you could also play throughout the piece the sound of ocean surf – adding to the horn’s surf sound or replacing it. Your call]. The mood here is slow, mournful, mysterious, as though a fog shrouded the scene and was slowly lifting. The main motif of the piece starts it off (after the air/ocean sounds): the interval of a fifth – muted – which rises and falls and is elaborated on in many places. The motion gradually picks up and rhythms become more jagged, like winds blowing whitecaps on the water. There is a break, and return to the surf sounds. There is a short recap of the opening material and a slackening codetta at the end, that gets softer and softer, and makes use of the ability of the hornist to gradually bend the pick down a half step by closing the hand, adding to the mystery. The hornist should take in much air and play that last closed written E as long as possible. As with all movement, take care not to move (at all – freeze) for at least 3 to 5 seconds after the last note stops. 

After the mystery of the first movement and the agony of the second movement, it’s time for some fun, alloyed with a bit of virtuosity. Ceilidh time! This is music to accompany invisible dancers! Although a tempo is indicated, the performer should decide on their own – whatever the tempo that they can play the fastest/trickiest measure in the piece – that’s the tempo for the whole piece; i.e. don’t start too fast and have to slow down for the 16ths. The first part is a bouncy 6/8 in a hornist’s favorite key, Bb (Mozart!), spiced with some off-balance rhythms. The middle section launches into a blizzard of notes to inspire the (invisible) dancers to even greater leaps and spins. The coda modulates up a step for even more pizzazz, but seemingly “fades away in the distance” in the last line (get softer, but don’t slow down).

One more idea: Feel free to use only one of the movements if that suits the recital or particular occasion in performance.”

Solo Concertino is dedicated to Amanda Thomas for her senior recital (in my last year of teaching before retirement). 

– Jeffrey Agrell