Alec Frank-Gemmill and Alasdair Beatson
A Noble and Melancholy Instrument
Bis
IT was the French composer, and writer of some style and no shortage of opinions, Hector Berlioz who described the horn as "a noble and melancholy instrument", an identification that liberates it from association with scarlet-jacketed yahoos in pursuits of the inedible.
He is not represented on this debut disc (under his own name) by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's principal horn and BBC New Generation Artist Alec Frank-Gemmill in the company of fine Scots pianist Alasdair Beatson, but no fewer than eight Romantic period composers are, including Beethoven, Rossini, Saint-Saens and Schumann, with repertoire that spans the 19th Century and extends halfway into the 20th. With rigorous attention to detail, the young musicians have carefully chosen the correct period instruments on which to play the music (all specified in the booklet), as both the horn and the keyboard were going through huge developmental changes at the time, and various versions were in fashion in different countries at different times.
All of which is academically fascinating, but would be irrelevant if the playing of both musicians was not of such high calibre,virtuosic and technically flawless, but with real emotional depth. And such is the variety here, there is bound to be at least one piece that steals your melancholy heart.
Keith Bruce
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