Premysl Vojta & Tobias Koch - Metamorphosis, Horn & Piano (2018) [Official Digital Download]

Alteration and transformation, influence and interaction! The horn and the piano have gone through immense changes over the course of time, as this recording with works by Beethoven, Schumann and Klebe intends to illustrate. The natural horn, the Romantic valve horn and the modern horn enter in dialogue with the fortepiano, the Romantic piano and the modern grand. We embarked on an adventurous musical expedition in the recording studio by dealing with three different types of horns and three different keyboard instruments in the course of three days, thereby attempting to span a wide musical range that depicts the transformation of the historical timbre ideal, condensed as in a time lapse.

Yet we never regarded this project as a purely instrumental challenge. Our intention, instead, is to show how the language of musical composition itself has undergone profound change on the basis of certain instrumental modifications. The distance covered is immense: from Beethoven’s Horn Sonata, still entirely immersed in the style of the late 18th century, passing through Robert Schumann’s Romantic attitude and leading to Giselher Klebe’s Alteration of Beethoven’s so-called Moonlight Sonata, thereby creating a technically challenging work with perspectives that mirror a multitude of tendencies. It is no coincidence that our programme, in so doing, returns to Beethoven, albeit experienced in a very different way: in Klebe’s work, innovative, revolutionary elements of composition and instrumental technique are directly noticeable.

Each of these works possesses its own style. Instead of striving to ‘homogenize” the timbre, we attempted to find individual musical identities, which can be easily perceived thanks to the variety of instruments used on this recording. We invite you to enter this musical time machine, which will take you on a journey through two centuries.

Tracklist:
01. Sonata for Pianoforte and Horn in F Major, Op. 17: I. Allegro moderato
02. Sonata for Pianoforte and Horn in F Major, Op. 17: II. Poco adagio, quasi andante
03. Sonata for Pianoforte and Horn in F Major, Op. 17: III. Rondo. Allegro moderato
04. Adagio and Allegro for Pianoforte and Horn, Op. 70: No. 1. Langsam, mit innigem Ausdruck
05. Adagio and Allegro for Pianoforte and Horn, Op. 70: No. 2. Rasch und feurig
06. Fantasiestuecke for Pianoforte and Horn, Op. 73: No. 1. Zart und mit Ausdruck
07. Fantasiestuecke for Pianoforte and Horn, Op. 73: No. 2. Lebhaft, leicht
08. Fantasiestuecke for Pianoforte and Horn, Op. 73: No. 3. Rasch und mit feuer
09. Three Romances for Pianoforte and Horn, Op. 94: No. 1. Nicht schnell
10. Three Romances for Pianoforte and Horn, Op. 94: No. 2. Einfach, innig
11. Three Romances for Pianoforte and Horn, Op. 94: No. 3. Nicht schnell
12. Alteration of the Sonata for Piano No. 2, Op. 27 by Beethoven into Sonata for Horn and Piano, Op. 95: I. Adagio sostenuto
13. Alteration of the Sonata for Piano No. 2, Op. 27 by Beethoven into Sonata for Horn and Piano, Op. 95: II. Allegretto
14. Alteration of the Sonata for Piano No. 2, Op. 27 by Beethoven into Sonata for Horn and Piano, Op. 95: III. Allegro agitato

Composers:
Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827)
Klebe, Giselher (1925-2009)
Schumann, Robert (1810-56)

Personnel:
Přemysl Vojta, horn
Tobias Koch, piano