Music For Horns

These are two pieces for horns in D in 6/8 from Koechlin’s 15 pieces for horn op..180. There are only two basic rhythms used, a crotchet – quaver (quarter – eight note) alteration, and a three / six quaver (eight note) succession (what one would expect from “hunting” music). In fact, no.2 sounds very much like a hunting quartet in D, while no.8 looks like one, but due to the slower tempo sounds more lyrical.

The distribution of parts follows the traditional quartet arrangement, 1-2-3-4. While not difficult in terms of rhythm and phrasing, it is the transposition (there are quite a few accidentals) and extended range that put this publication into the difficult level. For an advanced quartet, these are two fun, though short pieces.