REVIEWS
BEN GOLDSCHEIDER HORN TRIO
Wednesday 8 January 2025 7:30pm
Mozart – Horn Quintet in E flat major, K407 (arr. for horn trio)
Clara Schumann – Three Romances for violin and piano, op 22
Mendelssohn – Lieder ohne worte, op 62 no. 1
Brahms – Intermezzo in E flat major, op 117 no. 1
Huw Watkins – Trio for horn and piano
Brahms – Trio for horn, violin and piano in E flat major, op 40
Ben Goldscheider is a leading young British horn player – a BBC Young Musician concerto finalist in 2016, he studied in Berlin and is principal horn of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Also devoted to chamber music Ben is joined for this concert by Benjamin Baker, New Zealand-born violinist, and the Welsh pianist and composer, Huw Watkins. Music for this combination of instruments was initiated by Brahms in the work which completes our programme – written after the death of his mother – and which maps the stages of grief while not forgetting the happy memories expressed in a scherzo.
Mozart wrote his Horn quintet for the horn virtuoso and cheesemonger, Josef Leutgeb, and it is full of gentle amiable music, a mini horn concerto, and played here in a trio version. Inspired by performing the Brahms Trio, Huw Watkins work is in one movement and alternates driving rhythmic passages with slower, contemplative music. In between we hear the three romances written for Joachim by Clara Schumann, a friend central to Brahms’ emotional life.
REVIEW BY Chris Skidmore
Thrilling ensemble playing
Despite the Arctic cold outside, the depleted audience in the King’s Hall last Wednesday gave a rousingly warm welcome to the members of the Goldscheider Horn Trio, Ben Goldscheider (horn), Ben Baker (violin) and Huw Watkins (piano). Their programme was built around three contrasting horn trios – by Mozart, Brahms and Huw Watkins himself. The first was an arrangement of Mozart’s horn quintet K407 with the parts for the missing instruments (2 violas and a cello) being supplied by the piano. This has the effect of isolating the violin, as the only soprano instrument, even further within the dark texture that Mozart was aiming for. UI feared initially problems of balance between the violin and horn but as the piece went on these were overcome and a most convincing performance resulted with beautiful legato playing from the horn in the second movement and a cracking pace in the rondo finale.
The next work was Watkins’ 1998 horn trio, which is itself a reflection of the Brahms work. It contains two alternating ideas in a single movement – one is reflective with the horn and violin in unison and the other extravert with angular phrases in complex rhythms. The piano plays a mainly accompanying role against the first idea but intervenes with percussive rhythms of its own in the second. The audience listened attentively to a fine performance of what is, for the performers, a searching work.
The second half started with a performance of Clara Schumann’s three romances for violin and piano finely played with emotional intensity by Ben Baker, accompanied sensitively by Huw Watkins. He also gave performances of piano works by Mendelssohn and Brahms – the latter’s E flat major Intermezzo was particularly moving.
The concert concluded with what can only be described as a sensational performance of the Brahms horn trio in which the ensemble was outstanding. Ben Goldscheider is a fabulous horn player whose low pedal notes are beautifully even and whose fast passagework is crisply articulated. Ben Baker brought some beautiful mellow tones to his playing, ably matching the horn, and Huw Watkins brought both feeling and excitement to what is a punishing piano part. The central two movements – the thrilling scherzo and trio and the elegiac adagio – were the high point of a wonderful concert.
