Review - Four Folk Songs for horn quartet arranged by Adrienne Fox

edb 0104002 Horn Club series

The cover of this set of arrangements from Bob Ashworth’s edition db has written on it “Horn Club series”. This leads the Inspector Clouseau in me to deduce that these arrangements are part of the repertoire of the Opera North Horn Club, in which case, I’m rather sorry I don’t live in Leeds!

Adrienne Fox has taken four traditional songs – Early One Morning, Cockles and Mussels, Drink to me only and John Brown’s Body – and has clothed them with chords of her own. The effect is a little like that which Gordon Jacob created in his suite for wind Old Wine in New Bottles, but her gently chromatic harmonies also call to mind Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite and echoes of Percy Grainger don’t seem far away either.

The parts are quite straightforward and are within the capabilities of most amateur horn players, though the fourth horn player needs to be able to read bass clef. In common with all the pieces which I have seen from edition db this is clearly and attractively presented.

John Humphries, The Horn Player, BHS Vol.2, No.3, December 2005

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Review - Four Folk Songs for horn quartet arranged by Adrienne Fox

edb 0104002 Horn Club series

Adrienne Fox is a retired British music teacher and pianist who recently learned to play the horn well enough to join several amateur orchestras in the north of England. This set of folk-songs includes Early One Morning, Cockles and Mussels, Drink To Me Only and John Brown’s Body. In playing these pieces, we found them to be surprisingly progressive in harmonic vocabulary (a good thing!), with very active inner lines, plenty of variety in the verses, and some fun little twists. The voicing is different from the previous edition (Christus factus est), with ranges moving from high to low 1-2-3-4. The overall range for the set fits a high school level group, assuming a confident bass clef reader on the fourth part and a reasonable amount of rehearsal time – these are more than just transcriptions. I like Fox’s musical sense and her her sense of humour, and recommend these as a unique alternative to other folk song arrangements available.

Jeffrey Snedeker, The Horn Call, IHS, Vol XXXVII No.3, May 2006

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