Le Son Du Cor: French Music For Soprano, Horn And Piano – Morgen Trio

Playing with timbre and with the specific and idiosyncratic features of instruments and voices is one of the most fascinating aspects of musical composition. Even though it is always dangerous to simplistically equate one sensorial sphere with another, undeniably many musicians and listeners are tempted to define timbre as the “colour” of music. “The notes” may be seen as the drawing underlying a composition; but this is brought to life only when timbre is added. In turn, virtually no instrument has “one” timbre, and even though listeners familiar with the Western tradition will easily recognize a particular instrument’s timbre, it is also true that every instrument and every human voice possesses an entire timbral palette of its own. Moreover, from the interaction of two or more instruments and voices many more timbral combinations and possibilities blossom, which the skilled composer can adroitly exploit, sometimes in a very surprising fashion.
Seen from a certain viewpoint, it might be argued that the French horn’s timbre may represent a kind of point of encounter between the piano and the human voice. The combination of voice and piano is one of the most frequently employed in the history of music: the piano can provide for the harmonic support and musical frame needed by the human voice whose melodic potential is unequalled. Clearly enough, pianos can acquire a “singing” quality under the fingers of very gifted pianists; however, they are and remain instruments based on a percussive principle, and the impossibility to sustain the sound or to produce a vibrato is a condition painfully felt by many pianists. On the other hand, the human voice can create an extreme variety of sounds, including some which may be no less pointed and harsh than the most brutal piano sound; however, in most cases to “sing” is to smoothly sustain a tune, and an accomplished singer will be able to play with every single note precisely in the fashion which is unattainable by even the best pianists. The French horn shares many qualities with the human voice: both are based on breathing, both are capable of modifying a tone’s sound, volume or intonation during its entire duration, and both may be characterized by a particular roundness of timbre, a mellow quality which inspires and soothes the listener. On the other hand, the French horn’s range is much wider than that of the human voice, and the horn’s capability to articulate every sound in a very clear fashion brings it rather close to the piano.