Alla Caccia
Alla Caccia means "in hunting style" and since the baroque era and earlier the horn has always been the musical instrument most associated with the hunt. This short showpiece for horn and piano, then, stands in a tradition of horn-writing that stretches from baroque opera through Mozart’s horn concerti, Wagner’s Tristan and the finale of Brahms’ Trio to such modern works as Thomas Adès’ Sonata da Caccia. It celebrates the horn’s hunting heritage with galloping main sections in the traditional 6:8 "hunting" metre; these frame a short, minor-key interlude of a rhapsodic character. Its composer, Alan Abbott, was born in Birmingham and studied orchestration with Gordon Jacob, spending much of his subsequent career as a ballet-conductor and arranger in locations as diverse as Turkey, Australia and Sweden.
Richard Bratby
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2002
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