In Monday’s (1/3) San Diego Union-Tribune, James Chute writes, “When the San Diego Symphony performed Strauss’ ‘Alpine Symphony’ last spring, there were eight French horns on stage at Copley Symphony Hall and an additional 100 horn players in the balcony, in town for the Southwest Horn Convention. At the work’s conclusion, conductor Jahja Ling gave principal horn Benjamin Jaber a solo bow. ‘The first thing they did was yell from the balcony, ‘Ben! Ben!’ It was like a football game,’ recalled the orchestra’s fourth horn, Douglas Hall. ‘And then when the entire horn section stood, they let out a cheer. We don’t get that very often, but it was really fun to have that kind of experience.’ … It’s become evident over the past two seasons that this is a section that deserves more than a few cheers. Challenged by arguably the most difficult of the orchestral instruments and inarguably the instrument most consistently exposed in the orchestral texture, the horn section has stepped up. … The horn section is a microcosm of the orchestra with its varied backgrounds and its mixture of youth and experience.”
Posted January 4, 2011
