RJ Kelley (horn), Alexandra Cook (horn), John Aubrey (horn), Krista Bennion Feeney (violin)Palisades Baroque, Richard Dunn
Centaur · CRC3380 · 75 minutes
Horn concertos from the Baroque era are a bit of a minor miracle when you stop to think about it — natural horns with no valves, played by people who somehow nail the intonation on notes that barely exist on the instrument. Telemann clearly loved writing for these players, giving them lines that leap and tumble in ways that feel almost reckless, and RJ Kelley and his fellow hornists here bring exactly the kind of fearless, singing tone the music demands. Seventy-five minutes of this is a lot to take in, but it’s a genuinely joyful listen, full of hunting-horn swagger balanced against moments of real tenderness from the strings underneath.
Jean-François Madeuf (natural trumpet & natural horn) & Pierre-Yves Madeuf (natural horn)La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken
Accent · ACC24318 · 58 minutes
There’s something almost reckless about hearing these concertos on genuinely valveless instruments — no safety net, no modern crutches, just raw lip control and nerve. The Madeuf brothers make that high-wire act sound completely natural, coaxing out a rustic, burnished sound that modern trumpets and horns simply can’t replicate. Kuijken and La Petite Bande know exactly how to frame that sound too, giving it room to ring out without ever letting the ensemble feel like mere accompaniment.
“The thrilling, rustic call of a natural trumpet or horn is one of Baroque music’s delights. The Madeuf brothers oblige with crystal clear articulation and burnished, silvery tone.”
— BBC Music Magazine, January 2017,4 out of 5 stars
Bruce Atwell (horn), Gabriel Shuford (harpsichord), Susan Waterbury (violin), Heidi Hoffman (cello)St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, Jeffery Meyer
Centaur · CRC3221 · 60 minutes
There’s something delightfully unruly about the natural horn in Baroque repertoire — no valves, no safety net, just a player wrangling harmonics with lips and air alone, and Bruce Atwell leans into that risk rather than smoothing it over. The St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic under Jeffery Meyer gives him a string bed that breathes with him instead of just accompanying, so the concertos feel like actual conversations rather than horn-plus-backdrop. It’s an hour that reminds you how strange and thrilling this instrument must have sounded to eighteenth-century ears before it got tamed.
Willy Krug (trumpet), Peter Damm (horn)Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Koch, Hartmut Haenchen
Berlin Classics · 0000362CCC · 66 minutes
There’s something genuinely satisfying about hearing brass playing that doesn’t try to dominate a room but instead sits inside the orchestra like it belongs there, and Peter Damm’s horn tone across these concertos does exactly that — warm, rounded, never blaring. Willy Krug brings a similar sensibility to the trumpet works, favoring clarity and singing lines over flash, which suits this repertoire far better than pure virtuosity would. Sixty-six minutes of Haydn-era brass writing, played by East German musicians who clearly grew up steeped in this style, makes for a disc that feels unhurried and completely at ease with itself.
La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider
CPO · 9999072 · 66 minutes
Telemann’s wind writing has this wonderful habit of making oboes, bassoons, and recorders sound like they’re gossiping with each other, and volume seven of this series is no exception. Michael Schneider and La Stagione Frankfurt clearly relish the composer’s endless melodic invention, giving each concerto room to breathe without ever losing its wit. Sixty-six minutes in, you start to wonder how one man wrote so much genuinely delightful music for instruments that usually get stuck playing second fiddle, so to speak.
“La Stagione Frankfurt and Camerata Köln have done music-lovers a great favour by recording these imaginative compositions. What is more, they have done Telemann a great favour by playing them…”
— MusicWeb International, 11th June 2013
Radek Baborák (direction & horn)Berliner Barocksolisten
PhilHarmonie · PHIL06018 · 56 minutes
There’s something delightfully unpredictable about pairing Telemann and Zelenka on the same disc — one is all effortless charm and melodic ease, the other twists harmony into strange, almost stubborn corners that still catch listeners off guard three centuries later. Baborák leading from the horn adds another layer of personality here, since he plays with a hunting-field brightness that suits the outdoorsy exuberance of Telemann while still finding the weight and shadow that Zelenka’s writing demands. The Berliner Barocksolisten clearly relish the contrast, and at under an hour, the whole thing feels like a well-paced conversation between two very different Baroque minds.
Peter Damm (horn), Manfred Pernutz (double bass), Matthias Eisenberg (harpsichord), Matthias Pfaender (cello)Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra, Hartmut Haenchen
Berlin Classics · 0032102BC · 57 minutes
Peter Damm has one of those horn tones that makes you forget how physically absurd the instrument is to play well — round, unforced, singing through the middle register like it costs him nothing. These pre-Classical concertos sit in a funny historical gap, too old-fashioned for the Mozart crowd but too polished to be baroque curiosities, and Haenchen’s ensemble gives them exactly the kind of buoyant, unfussy accompaniment they need. Fifty-seven minutes of genuinely charming music, played by someone who clearly never thinks about how hard it is.
Barry Tuckwell (horn)Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, English Chamber Orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner
Warner Classics · 2435693955 · 2 hours 29 minutes
There’s something almost unfair about how effortless Tuckwell makes the horn sound here — an instrument that’s usually one bad note away from disaster, tamed into pure singing line across Mozart, Haydn, and the rest of the gang. Marriner’s got exactly the right touch too, keeping things buoyant and clear rather than syrupy, which lets you actually hear the horn’s warmth instead of fighting through a wall of strings. Two and a half hours is a lot to ask, but honestly this is the kind of set you put on and just let carry you through an afternoon.
