18 August 08 - 19:49An American's View

David McCormick writes of his introduction to The Russian Horn Capella:

We took the overnight train to Saint Petersburg [from Moscow]. Upon arrival, Sergey Peschansky appeared at our compartment, took us in hand and saw that we got settled into the hotel. Mr. Peschansky is a horn player by profession. After a twenty-five year career in the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet Orchestra, he had decided to find a new challenge, which led him in 2001 to revive the Saint Petersburg Horn Cappella, a unique ensemble. It had existed under the Czars from 1751 to the early nineteenth century, and had gone dormant for two centuries. Seventeen professional musicians each play two to five instruments (a total of seventy-two for the full ensemble) ranging in size from 3.94 inches (10 cm) to 8 feet 2.5 inches (2.5 m). Each instrument is a copper cone, with no cylindrical portion, which creates a unique sound, not that of our modern orchestra horn. Since each can produce only pitches of the overtone series, diatonic passages require separate instruments for each pitch (like a handbell choir). Yet the repertoire ranges widely, including fast passages. The smallest instruments sound like a cross between a brass instrument and zinke, the largest like something between an organ pipe and a baritone or bass saxophone. The conductor, Dmitry Russo, kindly came to our hotel and shepherded me to rehearsal. At intermission, I visited the shop that exists solely to make and maintain these instruments. After decades of having seen history book pictures of the Czar’s Russian Horn Band as a singular historical event, I was amazed to see and hear it in person.

David C. McCormick, a band director and university adminstrator, was a Founder and Vice President of the United States National Band Association. He and his wife Connie live in Fort Myers, Florida.

    

14 January 07 - 14:26Exoticness and Delight

Russian Horn Cappella Captivates Audience at Bernharduskirche

By Karl-Heinz Fischer, The newspaper Badische Neuesk Nachrichten
17. October 2006

"There can hardly be a more exotic and delightful concert than the evening with the Russian Horn Cappella. 14 musicians are standing on the choir platform at Bernharduskirche, each with one to five horns in hand. It is impossible to recognize at first glance familiar horns in these instruments since they are just slightly tapered conical tubes of copper and metal with mouthpieces. Such an instrument is unique in that it can play only a single tone. It seems almost incredible that an ensemble of such horns with lengths ranging from a dozen centimeters to two and a half meters could play any melodies at all, to say nothing about real orchestral pieces. Yet it really can, which the amazed audience could see for themselves. The musicians from St. Petersburg have in their repertoire a large variety of classic works, including compositions by such greatest masters in the history of music as Henry Purcell, Gioacchino Rossini, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Johannes Brahms, Carl Maria von Weber, Camille Saint-Saёns and Richard Strauss. (+++)

    

12 January 07 - 21:02A Great Friendship

Hermann Baumann and the Russian Horn Capella orchestra delighted the audience at their concert in the church on Central Square.

By Namalie Vishvabharatha, Kettwig NRZ Stadtteil - Zeitung
17. October 2006

 « Hermann Baumann and the Russian Horn Capella orchestra have invited all residents of Kettwig to a special musical delight. The German hornist Hermann Baumann first met with the Russian Horn Cappella in St. Petersburg during one of his tours. That meeting resulted in a great friendship.  Herr Baumann and the Russian Horn Cappella are currently on a concert tour around Germany and France. »

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