Album: Guglielmo Pellarin, Federico Lovato, French Music for Horn & Piano (Audite)

This collection of pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries is intended to display the increasing range and versatility of the French horn following the addition of valves to the instrument – although the essential sonic personality remains unchanged throughout, from the mournful grace of Saint-Saëns's "Romance for Horn & Piano" to Poulenc's "Elegie" written in the late 1950s in memoriam of horn player Dennis Brain.

The latter makes full use of the increased expressive spectrum. Elsewhere, Jean-Michel Damase's "Sonate" shifts from the brooding opening to brasher terrain, while the jazzier manner of Jean-Michel Defaye's "ALPHA" ably reflects his tutoring by Nadia Boulanger.

DOWNLOAD THIS: Romance for Horn & Piano; ALPHA; Sonate; Elegie