Here is another example of a fairly enticing full-price CD, which contains interesting repertoire, but simply not enough of it. Hermann Baumann, who provides the (too brief) note makes considerable claims for the Gliere as ''among the great instrumental concertos of the nineteenth century''. Well that's an exaggeration, but I know how he feels; for after Richard Strauss very little concertante music was written for the horn that has endeared itself to the concert-going public, until Britten came along with his marvellous Serenade for tenor, horn and strings. So the Gliere is quite a find. Baumann suggests it has strong links with the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, but the first movement, with its bold declamatory line, has much more in common with the Richard Strauss First Horn Concerto. The lovely Andante has a heart-warming theme that might have come from operetta, the kind that is difficult to dislodge from the mind afterwards. Then a brief, noble brass chorale leads into the lively Russian dance of the finale. The sequential treatment (and the wind scoring in the slow movement) do have a slight Tchaikovskian flavour but the final surprise is the flowing, lively secondary tune which might almost have come from Vaughan Williams's English Folk Song Suite. The chorale returns to begin the re-capitulation of the main theme. It is altogether a delightful work—the horn player's equivalent of the Hummel Trumpet Concerto, and I hope other players will take it up—it certainly offers opportunities for bravura in the finale, where the tunes are irresistible and the structure beautifully managed to produce a lively coda.
After this the other works are less striking, but still entertaining. Saint-Saens could never be dull and in his Morceau de concert he offers a jolly dotted allegro theme with variations which (at around 3'36'') slows up to provide an Andante before the brief, vigorous closing section. Cha-brier's Larghetto is an eloquent operatic cantilena, which becomes more passionate in the middle and then relaxes again. It has a rather fine tune. Dennis Brain used to find the Dukas Villanelle useful as an encore. It opens with a 6/8 folksy melody (like a more robust version of a siciliana) and this too becomes more animated, with a quite thrilling burst of bravura at the end. It is an engaging lightweight piece, which Baumann despatches with aplomb. He plays the whole programme very well indeed, with the big rich timbre of a German double horn perhaps more suited to the Gliere than the French works. His touch of vibrato, however is appropriate, for all the music would have been heard domestically with a vibrato.
Masur gives rich-textured accompaniments with the Leipzig orchestra, especially lush in the Straussian passages of the Gliere and the orchestral interludes of the Chabrier—in both there is a real feeling of ecstasy at times. Excellent recording too, warm and full and not muddy.'