CARL OESTREICH (1800-1840): Horn-Quartette [edition mf]
SÉRGIO AZEVEDO (1968-): Sonatina para 4 trompas [ava musical editions] *
NIKOLAY TCHEREPNIN (1873-1945): Sechs Quartette [Rob.Forberg]
CLÁUDIO MOREIRA (1989-): Metempsychosis [ava musical editions] *
HENRI TOMASI (1901-1971): Petite Suite [Alphonse Leduc]
LUÍS CARVALHO (1974-): Hornphony [ava musical editions] *
*world première recordings
TROMPAS LUSAS
J.BERNARDO SILVA – NUNO COSTA – BRUNO RAFAEL – HUGO SOUSA
Afinaudio Records IRFC.10.164, 2012
order your CD: shop.trompaslusas@gmail.com
Reviews & Comments
“Trompas Lusas is a Portuguese horn quartet founded in 2010. The quartet has a varied repertoire, as evidenced on this excellent CD recorded in March 2012. It is an enjoyable presentation of standard horn quartet repertoire alternated with new compositions, three of which are world premiere recordings. The pieces that might be more familiar, the Oestreich, Tcherepnin, and Tomasi, are all beautiful played. The quartet has a very clear, open, and unified sound and brings a simple beauty to these familiar favorites.
Sonatina para 4 Trompas by Azevedo is a short, simple, three-movement work, which he wrote in February of 2011 “for an open-air performance near a water spring in the town of Minde.” Using complex harmonies, the piece evokes more harmonically simple horn calls and antiphony from an earlier time and has a beautiful natural outdoor quality.
Moreira’s Metempsychosis is a programmatic work about reincarnation. The work tells the story from the moment immediately after the death of a first man to the birth of a second. The spirit, common to the two beings, is distinguished by the minor second interval present in almost all the work, as both melody and chord structure.
Carvalho’s Hornphony is a slow-fast-slow triptych. The composer uses many extended techniques, including stopped horn, mutes, cuivrêz, half-valve, and bells up. The composer explores the sound possibilities of horn playing in unified rhythms, creating blocks of sound. The title of the piece completely fits the music: hornphony is derived from “horn” and “symphony”. The composer uses the term “symphony” in the sense of “sounding together”.
The entire CD is worth the listen. The music from the three modern Portuguese composers is compelling and well written for horn. “
Lydia Van Dreel , University of Oregon (U.S.A)
The Horn Call – Journal of the International Horn Society – February 2013
“ (…) The fine recording of Trompas Lusas includes this piece (Hornphony by Carvalho), and my first response was to be completely impressed by the performers. The more I have listened to this recording and studied the score, I have become more impressed with the music as an interesting and unique composition. “
Music and Book Review by Jeffrey Snedeker, Central Washington University (U.S.A.)
The Horn Call – Journal of the International Horn Society – May 2013