Classical Music for Aficionados

I wouldn’t presume to designate it as the most beautiful orchestral horn solo, but at or near the top of my personal list would be the one at the beginning of the Finale of Stravinsky’s "Firebird Suite."

Also, there are certainly some beautiful moments for horn in the last movement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.

The fact that those works as a whole are among my favorite classical compositions, especially in the case of Brahms’ First, certainly contributes to my feelings about their horn passages.

Best regards,
-- Al

P.S: Learsfool, great to see that you’ve joined the thread!

P.P.S: Although I believe two horns are playing during most of its "solo" horn passages perhaps Ravel’s "Pavane pour une infante défunte" might nevertheless be considered to fit within the ground rules Craig stated. If so I would consider it to be a strong contender.

Best regards,
-- Al

I had no idea we had such horn aficionados here. Regardless of what might be the best horn solo of all time, this guy’s CD brings the instrument to a whole different level. He’s brilliant.

I would not presume to judge such a contest - those are all very good choices, and different people will have different favorites.  I will mention one of my favorites, though, that I doubt would be mentioned by anyone but a horn player. It is near the end of the second of Strauss's Four Last Songs.  Find the Schwarzkopf recording with the Philharmonia, Ackermann conducting, but most importantly in this case, Dennis Brain playing first horn. The most exquisite short little solo I have ever heard on recordings, and a favorite of a great many horn players. The original Angel blue label (at least I think it is without getting up out of my chair to make sure) LP sounds very good, at least the two copies I own both do. It is of course also available on CD, if one must, but that is NOT the same. 

Almarg, that is most definitely a solo in the Ravel - the second horn does enter a couple of times, at first on the same pitch as the first horn, but then descending down a fifth from there, just the two notes. Most of the time it is the first horn alone, though.  For me, Myron Bloom's performance of it on the Szell/Cleveland recording was perhaps the most beautiful of his recorded orchestral solos. 

Cleeds, Adam is a great player. He mostly teaches now - full time major professor at the University of Michigan - but he was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra horn section for ten or twelve years, I think, perhaps a little longer - he was the second horn player.  

rvpiano, your comments do indeed agree with that of many scholars. Many musicians, however, hear quite a few echoes of Handel in the orchestral music of Brahms in particular. I am not denying that Bach is a heavy influence at all, of course, just that Handel's influence is more than many academics give it credit for.