Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495: 1. Allegro moderato
2. Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495: 2. Romanza: Andante
3. Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495: 3. Rondo: Allegro vivace
4. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, K. 417: 1. Allegro maestoso
5. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, K. 417: 2. Andante
6. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, K. 417: 3. Rondo
7. Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11 (TrV 117): 1. Allegro
8. Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11 (TrV 117): 2. Andante
9. Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11 (TrV 117): 3. Rondo: Allegro
10. Sonata for horn & piano in F major, Op. 17: 1. Allegro moderato
11. Sonata for horn & piano in F major, Op. 17: 2. Poco adagio, quasi Andante / 3. Allegro moderato
12. Siegfried, opera, WWV 86c: Siegfried's Horn Call
13. Adagio & Allegro for horn (or violin or cello) & piano in A flat major, Op. 70: 1. Adagio
14. Adagio & Allegro for horn (or violin or cello) & piano in A flat major, Op. 70: 2. Allegro
15. A Midsummer Night's Dream, incidental music, Op. 61: No. 7. 'Nocturne'

Disc 2:

1. Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, K. 412/514 (K. 386b): 1. Allegro
2. Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, K. 412/514 (K. 386b): 2. Rondo: Allegro
3. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, K. 417: 1. Allegro maestoso
4. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, K. 417: 2. Andante
5. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, K. 417: 3. Rondo
6. Horn Concerto No. 3 in E flat major, K. 447: 1. Allegro
7. Horn Concerto No. 3 in E flat major, K. 447: 2. Romance: Larghetto
8. Horn Concerto No. 3 in E flat major, K. 447: 3. Allegro
9. Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495: 1. Allegro moderato
10. Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495: 2. Romanza: Andante
11. Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495: 3. Rondo: Allegro vivace
12. Quintet for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn & bassoon in E flat major, K. 452: 1. Largo - Allegro moderato
13. Quintet for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn & bassoon in E flat major, K. 452: 2. Larghetto
14. Quintet for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn & bassoon in E flat major, K. 452: 3. Rondo: Allegro

Disc 3:

1. Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11 (TrV 117): 1. Allegro
2. Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11 (TrV 117): 2. Andante
3. Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11 (TrV 117): 3. Rondo: Allegro
4. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, o.Op. 132 (TrV 283, AV 132): 1. Allegro
5. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, o.Op. 132 (TrV 283, AV 132): 2. Andante con moto
6. Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, o.Op. 132 (TrV 283, AV 132): 3. Rondo: Allegro moto
7. Horn Concerto: 1. Moderately fast
8. Horn Concerto: 2. Very fast
9. Horn Concerto: 3. Very slow - Moderately fast - Fast - Lively - Very slow
10. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: 1. Allegro
11. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: 2. Lento
12. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: 3. Theme & Variations - Tema (Moderato)
13. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 1 (Allegro vivace)
14. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 2 (Allegretto)
15. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 3 (Lento)
16. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 4 (Vivace)
17. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 5 (Andante)
18. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 6 (Moderato)
19. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 7 (Adagio)
20. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 8 (Moderato)
21. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 9 (Allegro vivo)
22. Trio for horn, violin & piano, Op. 44: Var. 10 (Moderato)

Disc 4:

1. Divertimento for 2 horns & strings in F major ('Ein musikalischer Spass,' 'A Musical Joke'), K. 522: 1. Allegro
2. Divertimento for 2 horns & strings in F major ('Ein musikalischer Spass,' 'A Musical Joke'), K. 522: 2. Minuet: Maestoso & Trio
3. Divertimento for 2 horns & strings in F major ('Ein musikalischer Spass,' 'A Musical Joke'), K. 522: 3. Adagio cantabile
4. Divertimento for 2 horns & strings in F major ('Ein musikalischer Spass,' 'A Musical Joke'), K. 522: 4. Presto
5. Divertimento No. 14 for 2 oboes, 2 horns & 2 bassoons in B flat major, K. 270: 1. Allegro molto
6. Divertimento No. 14 for 2 oboes, 2 horns & 2 bassoons in B flat major, K. 270: 2. Andantino
7. Divertimento No. 14 for 2 oboes, 2 horns & 2 bassoons in B flat major, K. 270: 3. Minuet: Moderato - Trio
8. Divertimento No. 14 for 2 oboes, 2 horns & 2 bassoons in B flat major, K. 270: 4. Presto
9. Divertimento No. 16 for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons & 2 horns in E flat major, K. 289 (K. 271g): 2. Minuet
10. Divertimento No. 16 for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons & 2 horns in E flat major, K. 289 (K. 271g): 3. Adagio
11. Partita for horn & string quartet in D major: Minuet & Trio
12. Symphony No. 31 in D major ('Hornsignal'), H. 1/31: Movement 1
13. Pi�ces br�ves (3), for wind quintet
14. Sextet for woodwind quintet & piano, Op. 3: 1. Elegiac Prelude
15. Sextet for woodwind quintet & piano, Op. 3: 2. Scherzo
16. Sextet for woodwind quintet & piano, Op. 3: 3. Cortege
17. Sextet for woodwind quintet & piano, Op. 3: 4. Minuet & Trio
18. Sextet for woodwind quintet & piano, Op. 3: 5. Rondo with Epilogue
19. Villanelle for horn & piano (or orchestra)
20. Concerto for hornpipe: Finale

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24451 in Music
• Released on: 2008-09-02
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .37 pounds

Album Description
Four CD set. Dennis Brain is The Horn Player who performs Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven, Hindemith, Wagner, Schumann, Haydn and Jacob.The Siegfried of the horn' is how Sir Thomas Beecham affectionately dubbed Dennis Brain, the brilliant horn player whose career ended with such cruel suddenness when the car in which he was driving home overnight from the 1957 Edinburgh Festival crashed into a tree on the outskirts of London. Beecham's graceful description derives from the hero's horn-call in Wagner's opera, music that had come to be particularly associated with Brain: he had played it to illustrate the horn's capabilities in HMV's 1947 recording Instruments of the Orchestra, and in the 1950s, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, had called him in for three successive seasons to play the taxing horn passages in the company's Ring cycles.

Customer Reviews

It's [almost] all there!
Like many young students of the horn, back in the 1970's, I was inspired by the music on the Seraphim LP "The Art of Dennis Brain." I particularly loved the performance of the Minuet and Trio from Dittersdorf's Partita in D, something I was no longer able to enjoy after my turntable [record player] died, late in the previous century, and the album was never re-released on CD.

Imagine my joy to find that the identical recording is listed among the twenty-five performances in this four-CD set, as are all the other tracks from that Seraphim LP.

Imagine my disappointment when I found that the track labeled

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
Partita in D
Minuet & Trio
London Baroque Ensemble
Karl Haas

is NOT the identically-labeled music from the Seraphim LP. It is either from some other Dittersdorf Partita in D, or from something else entirely. [It is not one of the set of Dittersdorf Partitas [KM2101] published by Breitkopf & Härtel.] Somebody at EMI seems to have "dropped the ball" on this one. If anyone reading this review ever learns where the "original" can be heard, please leave that information here in a review of this album. Thanks!

December 31, 2008 elaboration:

This set is also available from other sellers under the name "Dennis Brain The Horn Player." Do not be confused by the differing titles -- they are the same item.

Another reviewer suggested going to the EMI site to see a full list of the tracks in this set. I found their list to be a mess, with duplications. I've tried to sort the entries in that list, into the order in which they appear according to the list in the booklet that accompanies the set.

I have indicated with asterisks and other symbols my educated guesses as to the other albums on which duplicates of the recordings appear.

DISC 1 ::

Mozart: Horn Concerto No.4 in E flat, K.495
[Hallé Orchestra, Malcolm Sargent, Lawrence Turner]

#####
Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat K417
[Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind]

R. Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major Op. 11
[Philharmonia, Alceo Galliera]

##### & ***
Beethoven: Horn Sonata in F, Op.17
[Denis Matthews]

Wagner: Siegfried's Horn Call

##### & ***
Schumann: Adagio & Allegro in A flat, Op.70
[Gerald Moore]

Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op.61 - No.7 Nocturne
[Paul Kletzki]

DISK 2 ::

**** (all four)
Mozart: Concerto for Horn and Orchestra No. 1 in D Major, KV412
Mozart: Concerto for Horn and Orchestra No. 2 in E flat major, KV417
Mozart: Concerto for Horn and Orchestra No. 3 in E flat major, KV447
Mozart: Concerto for Horn and Orchestra No. 4 in E flat major, KV495
[Philharmonia, Herbert von Karajan]

***
Mozart: Quintet in E flat for Piano and Wind, K452
[Cecil Horsley, Dennis Brain Wind Ensemble]

DISC 3 ::
* (both)
R. Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major Op. 11
R. Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major
[Philharmonia, Wolfgang Sawallisch]

*
Hindemith: Horn Concerto
[Philharmonia, Paul Hindemith]

L. Berkeley: Horn Trio Op. 44
[Manoug Parikian, Colin Horsley]

DISC 4 ::

Mozart: Ein musikalischer spass in F major K.522
[Philharmonia, Guido Cantelli]

**
Mozart: Divertimento No. 14 in B flat K270
[Dennis Brain Ensemble]

#####
Mozart: Divertimento No.16 in E flat, K.289, II.Minuet, III.Adagio
[Dennis Brain Wind Ensemble]

[was supposed to be but is not, from ####]
Dittersdorf: Partita in D - Minuet & Trio
[London Baroque Ensemble, Karl Haas]

#####
Haydn: Symphony No.31 in D 'Hornsignal' (first movement)
[Jack Westrup]

**
Ibert: Trois pièces brèves: Allegro - Andante - Assez lent - Allegro scherzando
[Dennis Brain Ensemble]

Jacob: Sextet for Wind
[Dennis Brain Ensemble]

##### & ***
Dukas: Villanelle
[1952, Gerald Moore]

!!!
L. Mozart: Concerto for hosepipe & strings - 3rd movement
[Hoffnung Music Festival, 1956]

=============
##### Seraphim 60040 [vinyl LP] "The Art of Dennis Brain"
**** EMI CDH 7610132 [Karajan]
*** TESTAMENT SBT 1091 [Karajan]
** BBC BBCL 4066-2
* EMI CDC-7 47834 2
!!! EMI CMS 7 63302 2, from Angel 3550 [vinyl LP]

Wonderful Dennis Brain compliation
Dennis Brain was the greatest horn player of the 20th century and this is the greatest collection of his recordings I've found yet. The famous 1953 recordings of the Mozart horn concertos conducted by Karajan are included. There are a plethora of other wonderful gems in this set.

The EMI website has the entire track list and notes posted online. Do yourself a favor and read those. They do a wonderful job of highlighting each recording. This is truly a unmatched collection of Brain's best recordings.
EDIT - http://www.emi-icons.com/pdfs/5099920601027_01.pdf

Icon: Dennis Brain
A truly classic recording spanning the career of the greatest horn player of the 20th century. The early recordings of the Mozart concerti, not previoulsy released are a real treat-such youthful bravura and reckless abandon in the playing and cadenzas. I would highly recommend this recording.