Music For Horns

Johannes Brahms’ Festive and memorial music for mixed chorus was written in 1888, after the Violin sonata no.3 in D minor and before the String quartet no.2 in G major. It is a classic chorale with two groups of four presenting material alternating. Reynold’s version is an almost literal transcription, with only minor edits (such as the doubling of the opening 2 bars).

The original key of F major is transposed into B flat major, which means F major in horn pitch, making this arrangement look like the original score but with horns in F marked at the top. The relation between the three pieces is intact, so all three look almost the same as the respective choral scores.

While there are some challenges for the intermediate ensemble in this transcription, there is nothing that can’t be played with a bit of practice (not in the technical sense, the difficulty lies more in attacks of notes in the high register). As not all that many works by Brahms have been arranged for horn ensemble yet, this is a good starting point.