Mountain tunes in Kyiv
Kyrylo Karabyts (Ukraine) and Herve Joulain (France) present Sinfonia Pastorella to the audience
We would like to start with reminding our readers that Leopold Mozart (father of Wolfgang Amadeus) was the first composer to write music for the alpine horn, thus turning this instrument into a soloist of an orchestral music piece, while the French horn player Herve Joulain became the first performer of Sinfonia Pastorella in Ukraine, together with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kyrylo Karabyts.
Karabyts, principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (UK) and conductor of the National Opera of Ukraine, presented a new art project featuring the alpine horn, or alpenhorn – one of the world’s most ancient wind instruments, and the French horn – a descendent of the hunting horn. They performed Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony. The concert opened with an overture to Mozart’s Magic Flute.
The French horn concerto in E-flat major, written by the 18-year-old Strauss, is today one of the most popular pieces in the French horn repertory. The solo was brilliantly performed by Herve Joulain, who won the public’s hearts by the sparkling, crystal-clear sound. At 20, this musician became the first French horn player of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, 10 years later he was playing with the French National Symphony Orchestra, and since 2003 he has been the principal French horn player in Arturo Toscanini’s Symphony Orchestra. As the principal French horn player, Joulain has also performed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Academia Orchestra in Rome, the La Scala Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and others. He has also soloed with more than 100 orchestras playing Haydn, Mozart, Schuman, Weber, Beethoven, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, and Britten. We would also like to note that in Kyiv our guest gave a master class at the National Music Academy of Ukraine.
When the alpenhorn was carried on to the stage, the public was excited. The Lysenko Column Hall has never seen such unusual, five-meter-long instrument. It looks like his cousin, the Carpathian trembita, but has a curved flare at the far end. It is absolutely indispensable at feasts in its home country, Switzerland. In olden times in the mountains the alpenhorn was used by shepherds as a means of communication, or by watchmen to warn valley dwellers of the approaching enemies. Its slow melodies sounded at weddings and feasts just as well as at funerals.
The Austrian violinist and composer Leopold Mozart (1719-87) made history first of all as the father and teacher of his prodigy son. Also he composed Mass pieces, cantatas, oratorios, symphonies, and instrumental music. His Sinfonia Pastorella (Concerto for the alpenhorn and orchestra) attracts with its melodious, almost meditative simplicity. The exotic instrument sang free and clear in Joulain’s hands, allowing the listeners to enjoy the full range of the emotions with which this piece was created 300 years ago.
The second part of the concert was dedicated entirely to Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, his last symphonic piece, a colossal work with a huge score (more than 100 performers, 50 minutes). The symphony, consisting of 22 continuous sections of music, was created for four years and premiered in Berlin in 1915. In 1942 it was performed at the formal celebration of the centennial of the Vienna’s Philharmonic Society. The music story describes in detail one day of a traveler in the Bavarian Alps. The symphony opens with Nacht (Night), followed by Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise). Then the traveler enters the forest (Eintritt in den Wald), wanders by the brook (Wanderung neben dem Bache) and by the waterfall (Am Wasserfall) – and all this breathtaking scenery is created with a host of sound-imitating effects.
During the brisk “climb” a band of musicians with brass wind instruments were playing on the balcony, and not because there was no room for them on the stage. They reproduced the sound of hunting horns (after the composers design, they were supposed to be playing behind the scene). Suddenly a ghost appears (Erscheinung), to the accompaniment of bells, celesta, triangle, harps, and violins. As the traveler roams through the blooming meadows (Auf blumigen Wiesen) and Alpine pastures (Auf der Alm), you can hear shepherds’ horns, the cowbells, and herdsmen’s songs. At last, the traveler reaches the summit (Auf dem Gipfel) and watches the majestic panorama of the mountains.
In the episode Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (“Thunder and Tempest, Descent”) the wind and thunder machines were used, as indicated in the score. The wind machine is a cloth-covered reel producing a whistling and howling sound while rotating. The thunder machine (Donnermaschine) worked when a musician waved a sheet of tin, whose vibration imitated thunder rolls, accompanied by powerful organ chords. The storm abated, the sun set (Sonnenuntergang), and in the quiet (Ausklang) of the night (Nacht) the traveler came back home. This is the end of the virtual trip in the Alps, which was performed by the orchestra in a bust of elated inspiration.
