The 20th & 21st century horn: York Bowen, Hindemith & more at Wigmore Hall

Nobuaki Fukukawa

On Saturday 5 January 2019, the Avex Recital Series at the Wigmore Hall will be showcasing the Japanese French Horn player Nobuaki Fukukawa, principal horn of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Accompanied by pianist Eriko Takezawa, the two will present a programme of music for the French Horn which moves well away from the standard fare of Schumann and Beethoven.

The centrepiece of the recital is a pair of 20th-century sonatas for horn and piano, those of Paul Hindemith and York Bowen, neither of which is regularly played in recital halls. Hindemith's 1939 sonata is one of a group of late works that he wrote showcasing brass instruments, whilst York Bowen's sonata was written for the distinguished horn player Aubrey Brain.

Fukukawa's recital will also include a group of contemporary pieces for horn, written by Dai Fujikura, Toshio Hosokawa, Jorg Widmann, and Miho Hazama, so we can expect some boundary challenging moments. And the recital is completed with a pair of 20th century masters, Benjamin Britten and Olivier Messiaen. Both are represented by extracts from larger works, the prologue to Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, and the sixth movement from Messiaen's Des canyons aux étoiles....

Full details from the Wigmore Hall website.