Daniel Katzen on Bach's Cello Suites by Mark Anderson Cornucopia, April 1994

BSO hornist Danny Katzen came to the March meeting of NEHE to talk, proselytize, demonstrate, coax, and coach on the subject of playing the Bach cello suites on horn. Those of us driving long distances were hoping for good weather, which we had that Sunday. Those of us hoping for a good presentation got more than we could have hoped for -- the man came in and went out like a lion. What an advocate! Of course we can play these! Of course we should! It's fun! It's hard! It's good for you! Casals played one every morning of his life! Danny stomped his feet, he hollered, he danced, and he played -- sometimes all at the same time.

Danny talked about editions: Wendell Hoss's transcription for horn and many for cello. He suggested getting both so you can make up your own mind about the necessary compromises. Playing the suites in the cello range or a fourth higher as in the Hoss transcription are both valid options. The Hoss transcription is valuable for insights into hornistic options for playing very un-hornistic music, and the facsimile or Urtext show phrasings that might have gotten lost in later editions. Danny also referred to the origin of the suite form as dance music, reading the descriptions of the various dances from Willi Apel's Harvard Dictionary of Music.

The performance of the suites is a more ambivalent matter for Danny than the playing of them. Although he has performed four of the six and been required to play a movement from the third for a Cincinnati audition, he is not convinced that public performance on horn is a good idea. Danny had the astounding treat of Yo-Yo Ma expounding and demonstrating privately at his home (knowing that Danny plays the suites on horn), and a few days later being in the audience on stage at Tanglewood when Yo-Yo played all six suites, with a supper break.

With this background, Danny invited volunteers to play. Richard Baker, Bob Marlatt, Louisa Damiano, and John Patton each played. The comments, instructions, and coaching demonstrated that there are some who play who are also master teachers as well. We can only envy those who are Danny's students at BU and NEC.

Finally, Danny declared that if we do play these pieces in public, we must do so knowing that we owe the audience and must give them something special to take away. He kept his promise by closing the meeting with the Gigue from Suite No. 3.

Mark is a writer, teacher, and trumpet and horn player from Woodstock NY.
Danny grew up in Rochester NY, studying at Eastman through high school, then studied with Michael Hoeltzel and Philip Farkas at Indiana University and Dale Clevenger in Chicago. The path to Boston then wended its way through Europe, Israel, Phoenix, and San Diego. Danny teaches at BU and NEC.
Danny's L.A. Story

Back to Index