Caprice Reimagined — New Works for Natural Horn
On Caprice Reimagined, UK based natural hornist Isaac Shieh presents the fruits of his ambitious and commendable commissioning project for solo works on his instrument. Pairing the new works by a range of composers including Dai Fujikura, Michael Finnissy, Timo Andres, and Scott Wollschleger, with a seminal set of 12 Caprices by 19th century composer Jacques-François Gallay, Shieh brings this period instrument into the present with virtuosity, creativity, and passionate advocacy.
Scott Wollschleger’s six movement YOU ARE PERFECT JUST AS YOU ARE is a tongue in cheek reference to the inherent limitations of the natural horn, restraints that Wollschleger turns into assets in the construction of the work. Like Andres, Wollschleger wrote for overdubbed horn ensemble, and each short movement places a sonic microscope on an ensemble prototype, from massed chordal swells, to staggered entrances that create a kind of klangfarbenmelodie, to Feldman-esque syntactical ministrations that call attention to different chord tones in a complex verticality. Throughout Wollschleger revels in the richness of the microtonal colors and shadings of the horn’s partials in the overtone series.