Volume 14 - Zdeněk Tylšar
This month’s entry honors an exemplar of the horn’s Bohemian heritage as we celebrate Zdeněk Tylšar’s recording of Ignaz Pleyel’s Sinfonia Concertante No. 5 in F major. This recording was made in the Concert Hall of the Czechoslovak Radio in Bratislava, October 1980, and reissued by Musical Heritage Society in 1983.
Zdeněk Tylšar (1945-2006) was a deeply influencial Czech hornist who performed for forty years (1963-2003) as solo horn of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Along with his older brother Bedřich, they performed and recorded as a horn duo touring across the world and highlighting the large repertoire of concerti for two horns and orchestra.
Zdeněk Tylšar was born in Prostějov in the Olomouc region of Czechia. He began horn studies at the Brno Conservatory in 1958, and then continued onto the Janaček Academy under the tutalge of František Solč. After graduating in 1964, he was immediately engaged by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, initially playing 2nd horn alongside principal horn Miroslav Štefek. Zdeněk was appointed Solo horn in 1968 and led the Philharmonic section for the rest of his career, retiring in 2003.
Zdeněk Tylšar also gained acclaim for his successes in solo competitions, winning 3rd prize in the 1962 Prague Spring Competition when he was only 17 years old - a bit of a stunner as he was under the minimum allowed age limit of 18 sanctioned the competition. In 1968 he returned to win 1st Prize at the same competition, as well as 3rd Prize at the Munich Competition (ARD) and 1st Prize at the Geneva Competition.
The Tylšar duo first joined to perform the Haydn/Rosetti Concerto for Two Horns for Bedřich’s graduation recital from Brno Conservatory in 1962. The brothers then began a recording legacy of solo, duo, and both multi-horn concerti and chamber music that stretched from 1967 to 1994, highlighted by the duo concerti by Josef Fiala, Zavier Porkorny, and Franz Anton Rössler. Zdeněk was even more involved as a soloist, having been a featured with the Czech Philharmonic over thirty times and recording a vast array of repertoire for horn with a catalog of twenty-eight records between the Supraphon, Pony, Canyon, and Essex labels.
Ignaz Pleyel’s Sinfonia Concertante No. 5 In F Major For Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, French Horn and Chamber Orchestra dates from 1805. Pleyel, born in Austria in 1757, was a pupil of Joseph Haydn and made his career in Strasbourg, France as the kapelmeiseter of the cathedral orchestra. In addition to being one of the most popular and frequently performed composers in the late 18th C, he opened his own publishing house in Paris in 1797 (inventing the paperback orchestra score), and established the Pleyel piano manufacturing workshop 1807. Pleyel pianos are still being produced today, with over 350,000 units sold annually in China alone.
Pleyel’s Sinfonia Concertante has the same solo instrumentation as Mozart’s own version for winds, K. 287b from 1778. However, Pleyel provides a much greater degree of soloistic writing while retaining the light and virtuosic nature of this genre. The performers are flautist Miloš Jurkovič, oboist Lothar Koch, bassoonist Klaus Thunemann, and hornist Zdeněk Tylšar.
Our first example follows the four solo instruments as they introduce the melodic material for the first movement in turn:
As the music shifts into a minor key, we can hear Tylšar’s ability to blend and balance his sound from the broad opening solo, to transparent when paired with the flute, and then robust when paired with the bassoon:
A short solo for the horn allows Zdeněk Tylšar to showcase his uniquely supple and vibrant tone, all phrased in the singing style so honored in the Bohemian tradition:
Pleyel’s work concludes with a cadenza for the winds recapitulating the melodic material, and then lauching vigorously into an ending that quizzically then fades away – an odd touch from Pleyel!
As mentioned above, there is a treasure trove of recordings from Zdeněk Tylšar as soloist and paired his brother Bedřich. Many can be found on the Supraphon and Naxos websites. Among the most essential listening are the 24 Trios for Horns, Op. 82 by Anton Reicha, which the duo recorded in 1988 with Zdeněk Divoky and won the Czech Golden Record prize.
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