Pictures: Music for 8 Horns & Percussion german hornsound & Hannes Krämer

• Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881): Pictures at an Exhibition (arranged by Stephan Schottstädt)
• 1 Promenade 01:41
• 2 I. Gnomus 03:01
• Night on Bald Mountain (arranged by Georg Köhler)
• 3 St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, A Night on the Bare Mountain (arr. S. Schottstadt for 8 horns and percussion) 11:42
• Pictures at an Exhibition
• 4 Promenade 00:54
• 5 II. Il vecchio castello (The Old Castle) 04:24
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975): Suite for Variety Orchestra (arranged by Christoph Eß)
• 6 VII. Waltz No. 2 03:29
• 7 II. Dance No. 1 03:23
• Pictures at an Exhibition
• 8 Promenade 00:31
• 9 III. Tuileries 01:04
• 10 IV. Bydlo 02:51
• Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953): Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (arranged by Stephan Schottstädt)
• 11 Act I: Dance of the Knights (Montagues and Capulets) 04:03
• 12 Act II: Romeo Decides to Avenge Mercutio's Death (Tybalt's Death) 05:01
• 13 Act IV: Juliet's Death 09:24
• Pictures at an Exhibition
• 14 Promenade 00:43
• 15 V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells 01:29
• Piotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893): The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a (arranged by Ralph Ficker)
• 16 I. Miniature Overture: Allegro giusto 03:52
• 17 II. Danses carateristiques: Dance of the Sugar-plum Fairy 02:10
• 18 II. Danses carateristiques: Russian Dance, Trepak 01:16
• 19 II. Danses carateristiques: Arab Dance 03:42
• 20 III. Waltz of the Flowers 04:12
• Pictures at an Exhibition
• 21 IX. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yaga) 01:20
• 22 X. The Great Gate at Kiev 04:15
• Total Runtime 01:14:27

Info for Pictures: Music for 8 Horns & Percussion

The Great Gate of Kiev is in itself huge. But with the eight horns of german hornsound plus percussion amplification it becomes gigantic! After their successful Verdi-Wagner Portrait 'Siegfried and Violetta' the world-class horn players appear again in 8.1 wide-screen format on their second GENUIN-CD. However, before the listener is blasted away by the sound of the Great Gate, he travels through a veritable musical Jurassic Park: spooked by The Gnome, a witches' sabbath on the Bald Mountain, and morbid waltzes and emotional suffering with Romeo and Juliet. On the program: Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev – here dances the Russian bear!

german hornsound, horn quartet
Karsten Duffin, horn
Ralph Ficker, horn
Martin Grom, horn
Christian Lampert, horn
Simon Rössler, Percussion, Piano, Celesta
Hannes Krämer, conductor
Christoph Eß, Horn

german hornsound
The horn quartet “german hornsound” was founded in 2009 by four former students of Professor Christian Lapert’s horn class at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Stuttgart. All four horn players currently hold positions in professional orchestras: the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra in Reutlingen, the State Opera in Hanover, the Berlin Concert House Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.

The ensemble’s repertoire comprises all epochs of music history including both original works and arrangements. german hornsound’s own arrangements also offer more programme variety than the established horn quartet repertoire.

Since its inception, german hornsound has repeatedly been invited to play at festivals such as the “Festival Mitte Europa”, the festival summer at Schloss Seehof and the “Ebracher Musiksommer”.

For 2013, german hornsound has developed their own project in cooperation with the well-known South Tyrolean author, Herbert Rosendorfer, and the Berlin dramaturg, Karl-Dietrich Gräwe, to honour the anniversaries of both Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi. The quartet will perform this opera fragment in three acts, called “Siegfried and Violetta”, at leading festivals such as the “Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival”, the “Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern”, the “Oberstdorfer Musiksommer”, the “Vielklang-Sommer Tübingen”, as well as the “Festival zwischen Inn und Salzach”.

Further performances will take place in Nuremberg, Chur and Davos.

In the summer of 2013, german hornsound will also premiere (in cooperation with the Bavarian broadcaster “Bayerischer Rundfunk”) a commissioned composition of the Norwegian composer Trygve Madsen for four horns and orchestra with the Bavarian Youth Orchestra.

Booklet for Pictures: Music for 8 Horns & Percussion