Myths & Legends - Music for Horn Quartet

Myths & Legends - Music for Horn Quartet

This new recording is dedicated to contemporary composers writing specifically for the horn quartet. In 2002, the American Horn Quartet recorded its Take 9 release [MSR Classics, MS1089] together with the horn section of the New York Philharmonic. A featured work on this disc was Eric Ewazen's Grand Canyon Suite. After hearing this recording, the composer contacted the group and offered them another as-of-yet unperformed horn quartet, Myths and Legends. The group took up this new work enthusiastically and has performed it in many concerts since its completion in 2005. Back in 1995, composer and hornist Kazimierz Machala approached the group with one of his earliest works, a horn quartet with the working title of Three Etudes for Horn Quartet. After one reading, the group decided that this piece should be added to its concert repertoire. Following a few a changes, the final version of the quartet was presented to the AHQ with the new title, Intuitions. Since joining the AHQ in 1985, Kerry Turner has written many works for horn quartet which the group regularly performs. Barbara Allan and Rule Britannia! have been featured in concerts since 2002. The most recent work, Three Pieces for Four Horns, was completed in 2004, and was originally written for advanced high school or college level ensembles. Mr. Turner strove to maintain his unique compositional style while at the same time writing a piece that didn't have the same high technical demands of most of his other works. The AHQ performed the work for the first time in 2006. It has proved to be very popular with audiences and has taken its place in the regular AHQ repertoire.