Horns of the Britten–Pears Orchestra, Rosalind Ventris, Lara Dodds-Eden

Schumann arr. Britten - Adagio and Allegro for Horn
Bridge - arr. Britten There is a Willow Grows Aslant a Brook
Hindemith - Sonata for Four Horns; Trauermusik
Schumann - Marchenbilder
Tippett - Sonata for Four Horns

A concert that juxtaposes the sounds of a horn quartet with viola – Hindemith and Britten’s own instrument – is an alluring prospect, and the instruments’ very essence seems to be represented here.

The viola’s burnished eloquence weeps in memorials by Hindemith and Bridge and spins fantastical tales in Schumann’s fairy stories; the horn’s heritage celebrated in smooth cantilenas and quicksilver caprice.

Ghosts lurk here too – the horn virtuoso Dennis Brain and his quartet, and Britten, whose deft arrangements of other people’s music so often blends poetry and polish, working with the grain to reveal new beauty beneath the veneer.