Credits:

Teunis van der Zwart

Description:

A duo album featuring the world-renowned natural horn player, Zwart, and the pianist, Melnikov, who wrote Beethoven's horn sonatas. The program includes works related to Giovanni Punt (real name Jan Václav Stiff), an 18th century horn virtuoso who also inspired Beethoven to write his own horn sonatas. The album is based on Zwart's doctoral research on Punto. The instrument Zwart uses is the chor solo, an instrument made mainly in France around the 19th century for solo horn players, not an orchestra. Among them, the instrument used is the chor bass, an instrument that also has a low register. The mouthpiece is for the corbass, which is two millimeters wider than what we are normally accustomed to using. This makes the horn sound more velvety and less harsh, and allows it to leap through the registers. Punto himself wrote 16 horn concertos, and even after his death, many of his contemporaries wrote works for horn inspired by the virtuoso Punto. This is a valuable album that offers a selection of these works with the ideal combination of the virtuoso Zwart and Melnikov's fortepiano. King International

Tracklisting:

1.Horn Sonata Op, 17 in F major~I. Allegro moderato
2.Horn Sonata Op, 17 in F major~II. Poco adagio, quasi andante
3.Horn Sonata Op, 17 in F major~III. Rondo. Allegro moderato
4.Horn Sonata Op, 34 in F major~I. Larghetto - Allegro molto
5.Horn Sonata Op, 34 in F major~II. Andante
6.Horn Sonata Op, 34 in F major~III. Rondo. Allegro
7.Horn Concerto No. 1 in E major~I. Allegro moderato
8.Horn Concerto No. 1 in E major~II. Adagio
9.Horn Concerto No. 1 in E major~III. Rondeau a la Chasse
10.Horn Sonata Op. 28 in E-flat major~I. Adagio - Allegro
11.Horn Sonata Op. 28 in E-flat major~II. Larghetto
12.Horn Sonata Op. 28 in E-flat major~III. Allegretto