Collage (Horner)

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Collage: Concert for Four Horns and Orchestra is a concert for four horns and an orchestra by American composer James Horner. This work was commissioned by the Houston Symphony and International Horn Society and aired on March 27, 2015, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The first premiere was performed by Jaime MartÃÆ'n and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with David Pyatt soloists John Ryan, James Thatcher and Richard Watkins. Collage is Horner's last concert work before his death in June 2015.

Video Collage (Horner)

Composition

The London Philharmonic announced in January 2014 that it would be the new prime minister by James Horner - the news came just a few months before the Horner double concert premiere for violin and cello, Pas de Deux . Horner has previously worked with three of his four solo players on his film score and has played French horns in his youth. In a program note for the world premiere, Horner commented on the commencement of the piece, saying:

I have known three of four solo players tonight over the last 20 years or more of my professional life as a film composer. Jim Thatcher is the main horn in one of my first big movies, Cocoon . David Pyatt and Richard Watkins each played a major horn on so many of my movies I have forgotten! It has always been my dream to assemble this brilliant soloist group in one room and make them play in a movie. We have been discussing this for a long time when destiny intervened and David 'formally' asked me to write a four horn consensus using the players mentioned above. I jumped at the odds and the part that you will hear tonight is the fruit of that work.

Maps Collage (Horner)

Reception

Important responses for Collages have been mixed. Colin Anderson of the Classical Source criticized this work as one of "Horner's inoffensive if more and more parts are boring," says, "His collage starts promising with ear-catching the chorus, giving a beautiful impression of four players horns calling the whole mountain, descriptive music that goes directly to the senses, but not for long, because Horner's dependence on repetition and stale motives makes blander and blander pieces. "Music critic Alan Sanders also praised the orchestration when criticizing the form, saying:

As a famous film composer, Horner certainly knows how to effectively manage the quartet of horns solo and to get a skilled score for a large orchestral body, which includes two pianos, celesta, ellers and other percussion devices. The actual sound of the orchestra palette in this work is usually interesting and often intriguing. But after a while, the lack of rhythms in this single-motion concerto became clear: it all flowed at a steady, medium-slow pace, and the quality of music discovery was not particularly inspired. It sounds like decent movie music, but without any visual aspect to stimulate the imagination, so the inner eye creates its own image from the rocky landscape and rolling plains.

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Recording

The recording of Collage was made by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the original soloist shortly before Horner's death. It was released commercially via Decca Records on September 23, 2016.

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia