Anneke Scott performs Ivan Shishov transcription of Robert Schumann's "Abendlied"

Описание: Here's my latest addition to the ever increasing collection of fortnightly videos as part of my #CornoNotCorona project.

I really rather like this horn and have been searching for a while for something to play on this. I’ve actually got two instruments by this firm, Uhlmann, but as you’ll see when I eventually get to the other one they’re quite different. This instrument is by Leopold Uhlmann who was active from round about 1830s till the 1870s - this silver plated instrument I suspect is towards the end of his career. Leopold Uhlmann is celebrated as being the inventor of the Vienna valve - a type of double piston valve - however this instrument, is a crooked rotary horn.

For some reason I wanted to find a piece of Schumann to play on this horn. Whilst Uhlmann and other makers were successfully building rotary and Vienna valved instruments from the 1830s onwards the invention was slow to take off in many places. In 1849 Schumann has a sudden flurry of activity writing three works for the valved instrument - the Adagio und Allegro Op. 70, the Conzertstück Op. 86 and then the following year the Four Hunting Songs Op. 137. Schumann seems not to really care much about practical considerations on the instrument and, whilst all of these works make use of the hunting horn idiom historically associated with the instrument, in a way Schumann establishes a new musical language for the horn, especially utilising more distant keys and an expanded low register.

The piece I decided to play is another work from 1849 - but originally this is a piano solo, the Abendlied from 12 Klavierstücke für kleine und große Kinder, Op.85. This work has been transcribed by many different musicians, for many different instruments. I’ve come across listings of Schumann’s “Chant de soir” in some 19th century French catalogues but this transcription (which you can find here: https://ks4.imslp.net/files/imglnks/u..., which has emblazoned upon it “Workers of all countries unite!” Is an arrangement for horn and piano by Ivan Shishov from the 1930s.

Part of the reason I gravitated towards playing this piece is the haunting recording by Marie Soldat-Roeger (1863-1955) which can be found here:    • Schumann Abendlied Marie Soldat-Roeger  . Soldat was a pupil of Joseph Joachim, the violinist friend of Schumann and this recording, made round about 1920, is full of beautifully expressive portamento, shifts and slides.

So...we have a probably late 19th century Uhlmann rotary horn used to play a 1930s transcription of a Schumann piano work from his bumper horn year 1849 using Marie-Soldat, pupil of Schumann’s colleague Joachim, for a bit of inspiration (!)

Want to know more? Check out the accompanying video here:    • Anneke Scott talking about Shishov's trans...  

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