Horn Concertos By Pokorny, Rosetti & Punto

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POKORN´y Concerto in D for Horn, Timpani, and Strings. ROSETTI Horn Concertos: in E?; in d. PUNTO Horn Concerto No. 5 in F • Radek Baborák (hn); Prague CO • SUPRAPHON 4017 (72:51)


František Xaver Jan Pokorný (1729–94) served Count Philipp Karl of Öettingen-Wallerstein as court violinist from 1750 to 1754, whereupon he was sent to further his studies at Mannehim with Johann Stamitz, Richter, and Holzbauer. Upon returning to his court position, Pokorný was promised the position of choral director, but the Count reneged on his pledge. Patiently biding his time, Pokorný waited until 1766 when the Count finally obliged him by dying. It was then that Pokorný petitioned Prince Alexander Ferdinand Thurn-Taxis in Regensburg for a position at the Prince’s royal chapel. Admittance was granted, and there he remained for the rest of his life.


Some 100 symphonies have been attributed to Pokorný, but more than half of them cannot be authoritatively verified, as autographed scores in the Thurn-Taxis archive support his authorship in only about three dozen of them. Though Pokorný was not a horn player himself, his daughter, Beata, was. She became an acclaimed virtuoso on the instrument, and it’s a certainty that Pokorný wrote the concerto heard on this disc for her.


Antonio Rosetti (c. 1750–92) has fared somewhat better in the recognized name department. He was born Anton Rösler in what is believed to have been the Bohemian town of Litom?e?ice, though details of his exact date of birth and birthplace are not known for sure. What is known is that he returned from a trip to Italy sometime around 1773 no longer Rösler but Rosetti, and under his new Italianized name, he published a great deal of music, including numerous symphonies, concertos, and vocal works. Though Rosetti’s instrument was the double bass, not the horn, he is perhaps best known today for his several horn concertos, which, according to H. C. Robbins Landon, may have been the model for Mozart’s horn concertos.


Giovanni Punto (1746–1803) is another composer who underwent a name change. He was born Jan Václav Stich in Žehušice, Bohemia. Of the three composers on this CD, Punto is the only one who actually played the horn and who distinguished himself as one of its leading lights of the day. At a young age, he was sent by Count Johann Joseph Thun to study the instrument under Joseph Matiegka in Prague, then with Jan Schindelarz in Munich, and finally with A. J. Hampel in Dresden. The last named had long-ranging significance, as Hampel taught the precocious Punto—still Stich at the time—the new hand-stopping technique, which he would later improve upon.


The story might have ended badly for Stich, but Fate intervened on his behalf. After returning to the service of the Count, who had now invested a royal’s ransom in his young horn player’s education, the 20-year-old ingrate ran away with friends. As Shakespeare wrote, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!” The infuriated Count, in a fit of cut-off-your-own-nose-to-spite-your-face pique and Biblically inspired retribution, sent his soldiers to apprehend Stich and knock out his teeth to prevent him from ever playing the horn again. But Stich escaped into Italy and became Giovanni Punto. After a brief stint in a couple of court orchestras, he began to freelance, finding himself much in demand in Paris, where he played nearly 50 concerts between 1776 and 1788 and met the Mozarts, père and fils.


Punto wrote a great deal of music, mostly for horn, mainly to display his own technical prowess on the instrument. Among his works are some 16 horn concertos, 47 horn trios, and 21 horn quartets. Few are performed or recorded, but Punto’s name remains a highlighted footnote to history, immortalized by Beethoven who composed his F-Major Horn Sonata, op. 17, for the brilliant player in 1800. The sonata was also published in a version for cello, but only rarely is it included in recordings of Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano.


Only those who might have preferred a recording of these works on period instruments will be disappointed; all others rejoice. Nothing more really need be said about Radek Baborák beyond noting that since 2003 he has played principal horn in the Berlin Philharmonic. With that prestigious post on his résumé he can lay claim to one of the loftiest perches in horndom. But should you wish to know more about his illustrious career, check it out at his Web site: baborak.com.


From an artist of this caliber one expects nothing less than perfection and that’s what one gets on this recording. A tone of burnished gold issues forth from an instrument under absolute command. Pitch and breath control are perfect, and register shifts are so smooth and seamless that one is not even aware of them. This is truly some of the most awesome horn playing I think I’ve ever heard. The Prague Chamber Orchestra is conductorless; the ensemble, which has been around since 1951, plays with unanimity and precision, and sounds like it’s thoroughly into the high spirits of this music.


And as an afterword on the music, let me just say that I would give all of Mozart’s horn concertos, and Haydn’s too, for any one of the concertos on this disc. These are gloriously beautiful works that deserve far more exposure than they’ve had. I have a now 30-year-old recording of the Punto concerto with Barry Tuckwell, Neville Marriner, and the ASMF on EMI, and a 22-year-old recording of the Pokorný with Hermann Baumann, Iona Brown, and the ASMF on Philips. Neither touches this new one with Baborák, and both are showing their age.


This is definitely a disc for the horn lover. It’s also a disc for all those interested in lesser luminaries from the time of Haydn and Mozart who in their own day shone more brightly than they do now. Thumbs way up on this one.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins


Product Description:

  • Catalog Number: SU4017-2


  • UPC: 099925401726


  • Label: Supraphon


  • Composer: Antonio Rosetti, Franz Xaver Pokorny, Giovanni Punto


  • Orchestra/Ensemble: Prague Chamber Orchestra


  • Performer: Radek Baborák