Fantasia Feature - Ben Goldscheider
With our Strings and Serenades concert coming up next week, we sat down with our horn soloist, Ben Goldscheider to talk about what he loves most about performing Britten's iconic Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and his inspirations.
When did you first start playing the Horn, and who has inspired you along the way?
I began playing the Horn at the age of 9, having started on the Cello at the age of six. My first CD was actually of Barry Tuckwell playing the Mozart Horn Concerti which was a terrific introduction to the “British” School of Horn playing. My biggest inspiration, however, was and continues to be the Czech Horn player Radek Baborak.
What do you love most about performing Britten's iconic Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings?
I love how the Horn interweaves between being a delicate, unspoken commentator on the text to, at other times, being unashamedly declamatory. The work is so full of these textural and timbral contrasts and for me, perhaps that is its greatest strength. Britten was extremely knowledgable regarding the possibilities of instruments and in the Serenade, he uses the more difficult, vulnerable elements of playing to great dramatic effect. Prior to this piece, a composer would never have dreamt of pianissimo top C’s, a fanfare with no valves and a Rondo with a metronome mark of dotted crotchet equals 172!
Eleanor Alberga's Shining Gate of Morpheus is inspired by Greek mythology: what can we look forward to in this piece?
It’s an extremely evocative piece; exploring Morpheus, the God best known for governing sleep and dreams. The music is often extremely peaceful, with shimmering textures in the strings and long melodies in the Horn. The concept of a dream, however, is not always a tranquil reverie; the music explodes at certain points into a lively dance or galloping triplet writing for the entire ensemble.
What music do you like listening to beyond classical?
I try and listen to a variety of different genres, although if you put a gun to my head I suppose I’d say the nostalgic pop tunes from when I was growing up!
Tickets are on sale for our Strings and Serenades programme on Fri 18 Oct, 19:30pm.