alporn music with quintet or small german/swiss band?

[ken k]

just bought a new toy, an alphorn, does anyone know of any music for small german/swiss band (5 or 6 pieces) and alphorn? Klaus? or any other Europeans out there in tubenetland?

kk

[Dan Schultz]

email me at danschultz at wowway dot com

[Alex C]

My old quintet used the Alphorn in performances of Elgar Howarth's "Four Swiss Tunes," part of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble Series. The third movement "The Old Castle," worked well, I got to do my cuckoo impersonation in the first movement, the hornist got to play her alphorn. Audiences loved it.

I think our alphorn was in E-flat, not all of them are in the same key.

[imperialbari]

The standard pitch for Swiss alphorns is Gb. Aside from playing in all-Alphorn ensembles, the Alphorn mostly is heard with groups consisting of accordion, guitar, bass, and drums.

The hottest traditional player a few years ago was a quite young girl. A young lady, not much older, played the Alphorn in more modern popular genres.

If you cannot find material for your pitch of Alphorn and the remaining 4 members of your quintet, the easiest road would be to find the Alphorn melodies you like best and write settings fitting around the solo part.

I am no Alphorn expert, but my ears caught some of the clichés used in the traditional genre, and I played them, transposed to Bb, on my bass trombones, especially the common end turn of 9-10-8, here outlined by the # of the partials used.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

https://youtu.be/ZIbATZHZE44

The young girl is Lisa Stolt, here in a likely new tune that works with traditional tonality. As I hear her, she goes up to the 12th partial, also using the funny 11th partial.

Klaus

[Three Valves]

The hottest traditional player a few years ago was a quite young girl. A young lady, not much older, played the Alphorn in more modern popular genres.

A Swiss Miss??

[Dan Schultz]

The standard pitch for Swiss alphorns is Gb. ....

Our Alpen horns are pitched in either F or F# (Gb as Europeans call it)... depending on which upper section we use. We normally use the F pitch but it doesn't matter much as long as all members of the ensemble are the same.

My Alphorn is chromatic... using a valve section from a retired F horn as the upper 8" section.