Bach: Muzyk for French Horn (2008)

This CD claims that Jacek Muzyk "makes the French horn sound as sweet, colorful, and beautiful as a cello." Muzyk is an astoundingly proficient hornist, and his playing is indeed sweet, colorful, and beautiful, but he does not sound like a cello. The listener's appreciation of this album will depend on his or her tolerance for hearing music written very idiomatically for one instrument being played on another. The willing listener has to make some adjustments to fully enjoy this album. The horn and cello are both expressive ... Read More

This CD claims that Jacek Muzyk "makes the French horn sound as sweet, colorful, and beautiful as a cello." Muzyk is an astoundingly proficient hornist, and his playing is indeed sweet, colorful, and beautiful, but he does not sound like a cello. The listener's appreciation of this album will depend on his or her tolerance for hearing music written very idiomatically for one instrument being played on another. The willing listener has to make some adjustments to fully enjoy this album. The horn and cello are both expressive melodic instruments capable of warmth, incisiveness, and a variety of tonal colors. The biggest technical difference between them is that a cellist's playing is not circumscribed by the need to interrupt the musical line to take breaths. Bach's suites include passages of page after page of unbroken lines, and any wind player is going to have to break the lines at points to breathe. By using circular breathing, Muzyk is able to go for an amazingly long time without a breath, but he... Read Less