Track Listing

1. En fôret, for horn & piano, Op 40
2. Nocturno for horn & piano, Op 7
3. Sonata for horn & piano in F major, Op. 17: Allegro moderato
4. Sonata for horn & piano in F major, Op. 17: Poco Adagio
5. Sonata for horn & piano in F major, Op. 17: Allegro molto
6. Rêverie for horn & piano in D flat major, Op. 24
7. Sonata for horn & piano: Moderato
8. Sonata for horn & piano: Tempo di Minuetto
9. Sonata for horn & piano: Rondo; Allegretto
10. Sonata for horn & piano: Massig bewegt
11. Sonata for horn & piano: Ruhig bewegt
12. Sonata for horn & piano: Lebhaft
13. Intermezzo for horn & piano, Op. 35/11
14. Tongedichte (5) for wind quintet members & piano, Op 34

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #174154 in Music
• Released on: 1993-06-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

Technically brilliant recording of standard chamber works
If you are considering purchasing this CD, it's likely you're either a present or past French horn player (I'm a past one) or an esoteric collector of classical music (I'm getting there myself). The selections on this disc are probably not well known by the non-horn playing sections of the orchestra, but they are de rigeur selections for the professional or ensemble soloist. (It would have been perfect had Poulenc's "Elegie" been included as well.) I purchased this disc for four specific selections: En Foret, the Beethoven sonata, Gliere's "Intermezzo", and Glazunov's "Reverie". The difficulty of En Foret is legendary and obvious from its performance, but for some reason both the Faure and Gliere drove me nuts when I was getting my music degree back in the old days.

Mr. Cerminaro plays all the selections on this disc with note-perfect mastery, and that is saying quite a bit. Not only are there no missed notes (or at least none that I could detect, following along with my mental scores), but there is a full mastery of range throughout the low and high registers that is not frequently found in horn players. The liner notes reveal Mr. Cerminaro's justifiable pride in, for example, nailing the falling octaves in the final movement of the Hindemith sonata. (The notes also contain an unusually detailed description of his horn.)

I can recommend this disc for anyone interested in the horn or any of the composers. My reservation in rating this disc five stars, rather than four, concerns the overall tone of Mr. Cerminaro's horn. Before his solo career, Mr. Cerminaro was principal horn for the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has the "New York" horn sound, which, as a matter of personal taste, I find a bit brash. I am a big fan of the soft, dark, mellower tones of Dennis Brain, whose virtuosity was an inspiration for Mr. Cerminaro (and countless other scores of players!). At times, forte and fortissimo passages sound to me like a trombone playing a little bit out of control. However, if you enjoy what I think of as the "New York" sound (and what the notes refer to as a "distinctly thicker and richer American concept of sound"), then you will probably enjoy this CD even more than I did -- and I enjoyed it a lot.

Awesome Horn Playing
This CD is a must for any Horn player or lover of the instrument! Cerminaro has tremendous technique AND extremely sensitive mucicality. END

En Foret is the best
On the whole, all the recordings are excellent (particularly the Hindemith and the Franz Strauss), but, as stated in other entries, the En Foret is absolutely breath-taking. In my mind, a CD single of just this recording of the Bozza would be worth retail price, for this is the definitive recording. The way John Cerminaro traverses the stunning four octave range of this piece (with special emphasis on the pedal C that is amazing), takes apart the technical sections with the virtuosity of a smaller horn player and the solid sound of a Conn, and sails with phrasing that ties the piece together sets this recording apart from the others. By all means, do what I did: listen to the Tuckwell, listen to other recordings--then BUY the Cerminaro.