Horn

 

 

The horn, commonly known today as the French horn, is a brass instrument with a long and complex history that traces back to ancient animal horns used for signaling. The instrument became a standard staple of the symphony orchestra early on, and the first concerto by a well-known composer was by Joseph Haydn (1762). The four horn concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were the first to become widely popular. Probably the most famous ones composed since then are the two concertos by Richard Strauss. There are many interesting but less well known horn concertos from the 20th and 21st century, including Knussen, Gipps, Davies, and Aho, to name a few. I have opted for the concerto from 1926 by Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg, played by Johannes-Theodor Wimes with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Ari Rasilainen on CPO.