Markus Maskuniitty - Schumann, Saint-Saëns & Glière: Works for Horn & Orchestra (2019)

Markus Maskuniitty’s debut recording together with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra together with its chief conductor Sakari Oramo, showcases four concertante works for horn and orchestra covering a period of one hundred years (from 1849 to 1951). Robert Schumann described the horn as the ‘soul of the orchestra’ and he had a profound affinity with the instrument. The most substantial of Schumann’s works featuring the horn is the Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra, Op. 86. Schumann considered the work as one of his best achievements as a composer.
During 1849, Schumann wrote a total of three works featuring the valve horn. The Adagio and Allegro for horn and piano, Op. 70 may be considered a precursor to the Konzertstück and is a central work in the Romantic horn repertoire. This recording includes an orchestration by conductor Ernest Ansermet. Camille Saint-Saëns wrote a large number of concertante works, including a masterfully crafted concertpiece for horn and orchestra in 1887. It highlights Saint-Saëns’s mature skills in orchestral writing and as a composer of solo instrumental music. Final piece of the recording is Reinhold Glière’s Horn Concerto. Completed in 1951, it was the composer’s swansong. In this romantic concerto one can hear echoes of Tchaikovsky and other great masters of Russian classical music.

Markus Maskuniitty is a prizewinner at the Nordic Horn competition in 1989, the Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition in 1991 and at the ARD Competition in Germany in 1994. He has created an extensive career as a horn soloist in the capital cities of three European countries. He played Principal Horn with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1991 to 1993 and then joined the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin as Principal Horn. In 1997, he joined the Berlin Philharmonic as Principal Horn. In 1999, he left this position to return to the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, where he remained until 2007. Maskuniitty joined the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra as Principal Horn in 2007. Maskuniitty was appointed Professor of Horn at the Hannover Musikhochschule in 2000. The present album is Markus Maskuniitty’s solo debut recording.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1902 and Konserthuset Stockholm has been its home since 1926. Regular guest conductors include notable names such as Riccardo Muti, Herbert Blomstedt, Karina Canellakis, Manfred Honeck, Christoph Eschenbach and Conductor Laureate Alan Gilbert. Finnish Sakari Oramo is Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the orchestra since 2008. Sakari Oramo has carried out several successful tours with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The German newspaper Die Welt concluded recently that Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is ”one of the world’s best orchestras”.

Winner of the 2015 Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor of the Year award, Sakari Oramo is Chief Conductor of both the BBC Symphony and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras, and Principal Conductor of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. After a decade as Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, he has now served as their Honorary Conductor since 2012. During the summer of 2018, he conducted several Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, including the First Night of the Proms, and the BBC Singers. He has also previously conducted the Last Night of the Proms (in 2014, 2016 and 2017)

Tracklist:

01. Konzertstück for 4 Horns & Orchestra, Op. 86: : I. Lebhaft
02. Konzertstück for 4 Horns & Orchestra, Op. 86: II. Romanze. Ziemlich langsam
03. Konzertstück for 4 Horns & Orchestra, Op. 86: III. Sehr lebhaft
04. Adagio & Allegro, Op. 70 (Orch. E. Ansermet): I. Adagio
05. Adagio & Allegro, Op. 70 (Orch. E. Ansermet): II. Allegro
06. Morceau de concert, Op. 94 (Version for Horn & Orchestra): I. Allegro moderato
07. Morceau de concert, Op. 94 (Version for Horn & Orchestra): II. Adagio
08. Morceau de concert, Op. 94 (Version for Horn & Orchestra): III. Allegro non troppo
09. Horn Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 91: I. Allegro
10. Horn Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 91: II. Andante
11. Horn Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 91: III. Moderato