Volume 8 - Sören Hermansson
Logo by Martha Blanks
Our next adventure for Horn on Record takes us to Sweden – the land of IKEA furniture, the famed ICEHOTEL in Lapland, and the traditional fika dailey coffee break! This album, from hornist Sören Hermansson and recorded in 1982 for the Thorofon label, includes the Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano, Op. 44 by Lennox Berkeley and several pieces for horn and piano by Carl Czerny, Paul Dukas, Carl Nielsen, and Francis Poulenc.
Sören Hermansson is well established as a musical innovator and champion of modern composers, having been active in commissioning new pieces for horn since the late 1980’s. He has recorded an extensive array of music, ranging from concerti for horn and strings (many listener’s first CD experience with the Gordon Jacob Concerto and Lars-Erik Larsson’s Concertino), two albums of music for horn and harp with Erica Goodman, and several albums of modern repertoire for both horn solo and with electronics. He has premiered over sixty new works, collaborating with composers such as Marie Samuelsson, Leilei Tian, Per Mårtensson, Joakim Sandgren, Åke Parmerud, Marcus Fjellström, Fredrik Olofsson, Tommy Zwedberg, Magnus Bunnskog, and Alessandro Perini.
Born in 1956, Hermansson studied in Stockholm at the Royal Academy for Music with Wilhelm Lanzky-Otto, for a year with Adriaan van Woudenberg in Amsterdam, and finally at the Karajan Academy with Gerd Seifert where he regularly performed with the Berlin Philharmonic. He joined the Gothenburg Symphony as 3rd Horn in 1983 under Neeme Jarvi, later leaving to pursue a solo and teaching career. He has taught at the University of Gothenburg, the University of Michigan, and in a guest appointment at the University of Wisonsin-Madison. He is a frequent guest for masterclasses across Europe, the USA, South Africa, and Brazil.
The album’s A-side features the Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano by Lennox Berkeley composed as a commission in the early 1950’s by the pianist Colin Horsley for Dennis Brain. Alongside violinist Manoug Parikian, this group premiered the piece in 1954 and recorded it 1959. Hermansson provids the next recorded interpretation twenty-three years later, joined by Hans Maile on violin and the exceptional pianist Horst Göbel.
The first movement is has a very spacious melody built on rising fourths. Hermansson plays with driving clarity and rhythmic propulsion when this melody later changes to a martial, descending figure:
The final movement is an original theme (which Berkeley again based on fourths) and a set of variations. Variation VII Adagio features a plaintive, sustained melody in the horn underpinned by the theme in the piano bassline. Hermansson oozes through this cantabile line, with generous portamento on the descending cadential fourths:
The rollicking Andante and Polacca by Carl Czerny absolutely showcases both performers. Hermansson balances articulation that is both firm and meticulous while crafting lines with generous affectation and panache. Horst Göbel, orchestral pianist for both the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, is simply dazzling and performs feats of keyboard wizardry!
Neilsen’s Canto Serioso is a miniature gem, written as a low horn audition piece for the Danish Royal Theater Orchetra in 1913. In the closing Andante sostenuto of this rendition, Hermansson and Göbel exude calm as the melody languidly stretches to it’s restful conclusion:
Finally we’ll hear true contrast in the music of Poulenc with his gorgeous but emotionally frought Elegie, written in memorium of Dennis Brain. This piece pairs frenetic and angsty music against plaintive, meandering moments of solemnity. Once more Sören Hermansson plays with sweeping sustain, then wrangles the rapid articulation into a wonderfully anguished cadence:
This album is available through Dicogs, since Spotify does not stream these vinyl albums! I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to Sören Hermansson’s earliest recording, and for reading Horn on Record!