This album comes in the midst of a sequence of fine Haydn symphony releases by the historical-instrument Heidelberger Sinfoniker and its conductor, Thomas Fey, and those following the series shouldn't overlook it or be dissuaded by the squawking entities that have passed for natural horn players in the past. Hornist Wilhelm Bruns makes his valveless instrument sing in the slow movements and takes a brisk, aggressive tone in the Allegros, tying the Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, Hob. 7d/3, back to its outdoor-divertimento ...
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This album comes in the midst of a sequence of fine Haydn symphony releases by the historical-instrument Heidelberger Sinfoniker and its conductor, Thomas Fey, and those following the series shouldn't overlook it or be dissuaded by the squawking entities that have passed for natural horn players in the past. Hornist Wilhelm Bruns makes his valveless instrument sing in the slow movements and takes a brisk, aggressive tone in the Allegros, tying the Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, Hob. 7d/3, back to its outdoor-divertimento origins. He scales his approach back in the delightful Symphony No. 31 in C major, Hob. 1/31 ("Hornsignal"), a concertante work that Haydn wrote in order to display the talents of Esterháza's remarkable stable of solo instrumentalists. Bruns does not overshadow the violin or the double bass in the endlessly charming variation finale, but when given the chance to show off himself, as in the cadenzas of the concertos, he revels in the instrument's registral and timbral possibilities....
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