Julius Drake and Richard Watkins’ new album, The Romantic Horn (Signum) is available in stores and online from 8 March, 2019. The recording features a selection of beloved works for the horn and highlights lyrical gems for the instrument by Beethoven, Schumann and Scriabin.
Hugh Canning writes in The Sunday Times, ‘Beethoven’s youthful Sonata is the wellspring for this fitting programme of mostly short pieces for horn and piano, including one each by the great cornist Franz Strauss and his more famous son Richard, who late in his life paid tribute to his father’s artistry. Watkins’s rich, singing tone is complemented by Drake’s lively pianism and they luxuriate especially in the two most substantial encores: Schumann’s superb Adagio and Allegro, and Poulenc’s dark, soulful Elégie.’
Click here to listen to The Romantic Horn
Track listing
- Beethoven: Horn Sonata in F major, Op. 17: I. Allegro
- Beethoven: Horn Sonata in F major, Op. 17: II. Poco Adagio
- Beethoven: Horn Sonata in F major, Op. 17: III. Rondo
- Strauss, F: Nocturno, Op. 7
- Strauss, R: Andante for Horn and Piano in C major, AV86a
- Schumann: Adagio and Allegro in A flat major, Op. 70
- Glazunov: Reverie, Op. 24 for French horn
- Scriabin: Romance in A minor
- Dukas: Villanelle
- Poulenc: Elégie for horn and piano, Op. 168
- Vinter: Hunter’s Moon