MATTHEW TAYLOR - HORN CONCERTO NO 2

WORLD PREMIERE

STEPHEN STIRLING (Horn)

ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS

At St Martin in The Fields

Thursday, 7th September 2023

This may not be by our group but it is certainly What’s On. We have always followed
Matthew when we can in supporting him with his compositions. He has just
announced this up and coming first performance and all our members and supporters,
their sisters and brothers, their uncles and their cousins and aunts are urged to find
their way to Charing Cross to in homage to Matthew for the pleasure he has rendered
to all of us.

‘The music is thoroughly convincing at all times and I was struck by the assurance with which
Taylor writes for the orchestra’ Music Web International

From Scarlatti via Mozart and Britten to The Beatles, the French horn has been used to add the
emotional heart to compositions. Like the human voice, the ‘cello of the brass section’ can be
heroic, romantic, soothing, yearning, joyful – and everything in between. The Academy of St
Martin in the Fields (ASMF) celebrates this versatile instrument in September in a concert
featuring two works, written 260 years apart, that allow this beautiful instrument to shine. One
of these, the second horn concerto by Matthew Taylor in its world premiere, will be performed
by Stephen Stirling, the player who inspired it.

Matthew Taylor’s imaginative Horn Concerto No.2 channels both Haydn and Arnold with its
singing allegro and rollicking finale, while the delicate intermezzo has shades of Brahms. The
final movement – an animated conversation piece for horn, oboe and cor Anglais – will raise a
smile with its Laurel-and-Hardy-esque sign off. Written for his friend and ASMF member
Stephen Stirling, Matthew commented: ‘I have always felt that Steve was the most poetic of
horn players and much of the concerto tries to reflect this’. This is a work that will intrigue and
entertain in equal measure. It has been paired with Haydn’s ‘Philosopher’ symphony where
the horns play a prominent role in a ‘debate’ with the cor anglais, a moment of orchestration
unique amongst Haydn’s symphonies.

(From the Academy Website)

PROGRAMME:
Grieg: Holberg Suite
Matthew Taylor: Horn Concerto No.2 – world premiere
Philip Herbert: Elegy: In Memoriam – Stephen Lawrence
Shaw: Entr’acte: A Minuet & Trio
Haydn: Symphony in Eb major No.22 ‘Philosopher’