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Fantasie - Music for Horn

£11.38

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Label: Divine Art

Cat No: DDA25050

Barcode: 0809730505027

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 11th June 2007

Works

Schumann
Adagio and Allegro Op. 70, for horn and piano

Poulenc
Elegie for horn and piano

R. Strauss
Alphorn, for voice, horn and piano

Maxwell Davies
Sea Eagle for solo horn

Faure
Pavane , arranged for horn and harp by E Cutajar (first recording)

Damase
Aspects - five pieces for horn and harp (first recording)

Camilleri
Fantasie Sonata for horn and piano (first recording)

Artists

Etienne Cutajar (horn)
John Reid (piano)
Anne Marie Camilleri Podesta (harp)
Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano)

Works

Artists

Etienne Cutajar (horn)
John Reid (piano)
Anne Marie Camilleri Podesta (harp)
Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano)

About

This debut recording from Etienne Cutajar features a delightful range of repertoire. The Schumann Adagio and Allegro dates from the same period as the Concertstücke for Four Horns and orchestra. Poulenc’s “Elegie” was composed in 1957 in memory of Dennis Brain. Alphorn AV29, written in 1876, was dedicated by Strauss to the then principal horn at the Munich Court Orchestra. Maxwell Davies’ “Sea Eagle” received a premiere in 1982 at the Dartington Summer School.

The remaining pieces are all ‘First Recordings’ and dramatically demonstrate Cutajar’s tremendous virtuosity. The new Fantasie Sonata for Horn & Piano by Charles Camilleri, also from Malta is dedicated to him; it was premièred by Etienne in April.

Born in 1983 Etienne Cutajar is a native of Malta and started playing the horn at the age of ten under the tuition of Baul Borġ from the same country. Etienne was appointed 3rd horn of the Malta National Orchestra aged 18; he resigned the post after two years and went on to pursue a two-year postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Richard Watkins and Michael Thompson on a full scholarship from the ABRSM. He has appeared as a soloist in Malta where his recitals won great critical acclaim, the Royal Academy of Music, major venues in London, such as the Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall and very recently with the BBC SSO at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. Cutajar was for consecutive years first horn of the European Union Youth Orchestra, with whom in the summer of 2005 he played Mahler’s Seventh Symphony for Bernard Haitink. Etienne has appeared as guest first and third horn with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and London Brass. In July of 2006, Etienne was appointed third horn of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Etienne is accompanied on these recordings by John Reid (piano), Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano) and Anne Marie Camilleri Podesta (harp). Sessions were held at the Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, on 9 and 10 January 2007 (engineered by Geoff Addis and produced by Antony Hodgson). Composer Charles Camilleri, whose Fantasie Sonata is one of the major items on the disc attended and remarked that he was "very enthusiastic about M Cutajar's skill".