Volume 12 - André Van Driessche
Logo by Martha Blanks
For this installment of Horn on Record we will take a tour of Belgium and listen to André Van Driessche’s 1986 vinyl recording of Jacques-François Gallay’s Twelve Grand Caprices, Op. 32.
André Van Driessche (1936-2014) was a luminary performer and teacher who exemplified and expanded upon the Ghent school of horn playing. He began his horn studies at age sixteen at the Ghent Conservatory under the tutelage of Jean-Baptiste ‘Maurice’ Van Bocxstaele. Here Van Dreisshe was trained in a playing style that emphasized the notable Ghentian trait of lyricism. Success followed quickly, joining the Royal Antwerp Symphony Orchestra as Principal horn in 1957. He subsequently held the same position with the Brussels Philharmonic and the Flemish Radio Orchestra from 1962-1996.
Van Driessche was Professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and established himself as a pedagogical authority for a standardized embouchure technique. Both Van Driessche and Philip Farkas (himself a protégé of the Flemish-trained Louis Defrasne) strived for uniform embouchures that could meet the technical and endurance demands of the contemporary orchestral and solo literature while maintaining the quintessential tone quality of the F horn. For his expertise in addressing deficient embouchures, Van Driessche was regarded as the ‘Brass Clinician of Brussels’! He was an active member of the International Horn Society and frequent participant in the International Symposia spanning from the 1970’s through the 1990’s.
We are thankful for the biographical information and a contextualization of the importance of André Van Driessche and the long lineage of Belgian hornists that is comprehensively and compelling captured in Jereon Billiet’s dissertation “Brave Belgians of the Belle Époque: a study in the late-romantic Ghent horn playing tradition.”
Each of Gallay’s Caprices are wonderful musical morsels! They are defined by their compact and efficient form that create contrast and allow expressive interpretive decisions for each performer regarding pacing and fluidity. As such, two complete renditions of these Caprices, crafted by André Van Driessche, will be highlighted:
In both examples, we can enjoy the firm and sonorous tone of Van Driessche that is colored with the slightest shading of vibrato. His intervallic leaps can be very pliable through generous portamento, and then contrasted with immediate and athletic juggling of rapid passagework with equal ease and assurance. As Jereon Billiet highlights in his chronicling of the Belgian style, lyrical phrasing is tied to narrative and poetic interpretive principles. I believe Van Driessche’s performances of these Caprices beautifully encapsulates these musical virtues!
Gallay’s Twelve Grand Caprices can find equal footing in your practice room or as a selected suite of solo pieces for a wide range of public performance situations thanks to their brevity and musical merits. What a treat to have these pieces definitively preserved by André Van Dreissche!