Yehudi Wyner's Horntrio Cornucopia, January 1998

Horntrio for Violin, Horn, and Piano by Yehudi Wyner is a "major addition to the repertoire," states Jean Rife, who was the force behind the commission and who premiered the work at Jordan Hall with James Buswell on violin and Yehudi himself at the piano.

Jean says that the piece is "thrilling to play, challenging but rewarding, and doesn't tire out the horn player." After playing it, Jean felt "ready to go on to the Brahms" (which in fact they did). Jean attributes this result to the wide range (written F below bass clef to C above treble clef), generous use of the lower range, large skips, and judicious rests. BSO fourth horn Dick Mackey said to Yehudi after the recital, "Thank you for including such extensive and interesting low register material."

"Yehudi writes beautifully for the horn," says Jean, "and he's a fabulous chamber music coach, so it was a wonderful experience to learn this piece with him." The two live only minutes away from each other, so they had frequent consultations. "Yehudi wanted to know what felt difficult, and he rewrote some passages in the last move- ment to make them lie better on the horn." Yehudi sees two types of difficulties -- those that are challenging but contribute to the expressiveness, and others that are awkward and not overcome by practice. He wants to fix the second type. In fact, he has made some changes since the premiere that consortium members will be able to incorporate in upcoming performances.

Yehudi admires Jean's playing and musical abilities. He praises her musicianship and performance of his work.

Yehudi was aware of the horn's reputation as a difficult, intractable instrument, but he got quite another perspective when Jean took him to hear Frank Lloyd at Osmun Music. "Frank Lloyd can play anything on the horn," says Yehudi, "and once someone proves it can be done, many others -- although not everyone -- will be able to play the same things. The horn is capable of greater flexibility and more rapidity than most people expect."

Although the three movements of Horntrio are in conventional tempi (fast-slow-fast), the form evolves from the material itself "... and devices such as repetition, near-repetition, and contrast help to guide the performer and listener through the evolving narrative," according to Yehudi. The harmonic language is "heavily influenced by the common-practice harmony of jazz. Many melodic and rhythmic figures recall popular tunes of a bygone era."

Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote, "Wyner's new work is a beauty, lusciously dense in harmony and crackling with energy and jazzy rhythmic life. ...The performance was obviously authoritative, and all three participants really tore into their work."

A longer version of this article, with more about performances across the country, appeared in the May 1998 issue of the Horn Call. Copies are available through the order page.

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