Expansion on American Horn Quartet and the QSO Horns

While this blog isn't about military ensembles, it ties back to the listening presentation that I gave in class on Wednesday. During the presentation, we listened to a piece called "Hymnus" by Kerry Turner. This piece is a monster of a work and once we finished listening to it, I was asked a few questions about the work and the group playing it that I didn't have the answers to. I've done some more research, and here is some background on this collaboration.

I was first introduced to this piece in August 2018 during my first ever horn choir rehearsal. My teacher handed me horn 8 (which is almost entirely in bass clef and as a freshman I had never seen notes that low before) and said good luck. She really believed in baptism by fire and safe to say I promptly cried as soon as rehearsal was over lol. as time went on, I got the notes down and it became a piece I actually looked forward to rehearsing.

                                                                                                                                                                 

The recording I played in class (and listed below) is from the joint album "The Christmas Album" by the American Horn Quartet and Queensland Symphony Horns.

While I couldn't find any information about the backstory behind the title "Hymnus", I did find some about the work:
"With the horn’s vast range, technical facility and wide range of color possibilities, the idea to compose a pipe organ fantasy piece, but one which is written for eight horns, has always been in the back of the composer’s mind. The commission by the aHorn ensemble of Japan was thus the impetus to realize this idea.
 It is merely an improvisation of sorts, fully exploiting the possibilities of an eight-piece horn ensemble, while paying homage to one of the greatest musical instruments on the world- the grand cathedral pipe organ" - from the program notes

I found and article about the collaboration on the IHS website here. The collaboration between the American Horn quartet and the Queensland Symphony horns started years before the cd was recorded. Kristina Mascher-Turner said, "We had collaborated with the QSO Horns a few times over the years and knew that they would be a tight match for our style and concept of playing". This CD was the last and final album that the American Horn Quartet recorded before their retirement in 2016. The groups recorded the album in only 1 week on top of their many other rehearsal commitments (so cool).

 If you are interested in listening to the entire album, it is streaming on Spotify and Apple Music!