Four Pieces review

Review - Four pieces for two horns by Anthony Randall

edb 0102001 Horn Club series

The titles of these four vivid little jewels of horn writing summarize their characters perfectly: ‘Powerdrive’, ‘Romanza’, ‘March’ and ‘Rondo’. It is a real pleasure to find a set of horn duets that are fairly difficult technically, but respond well to a bit of private practising, and also happen to sound attractive. The composer manages the part-writing in a skilful way that allows the 2nd player an equal share of the melodies, while sometimes giving the aural illusion, via piquant, overtone-generating harmonies, that there are more than just 2 horns playing. I especially enjoyed the March, with its themes evoking half-forgotten folk-tunes, and its amusing 5/8, 7/8 and even 3/4 bars (18 of them, compared to 24 bars of 2/4!)

Anthony Halstead, The Horn Player, December 2007

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